Choices
by Celestial Chaos
Summary: Slash. OC/? A new kid joins the Animorphs. Their lives will never be the same. This story's got it all! Fluff, angst, romance, battles, tragedies, suspense, excitement...please read & review!
1. More Than Chewable

_**(9/18/2008 Author's Notes: So I took some time to try and redo the chapters of this story. You might be wondering, wow! This story has been going for 5 years? But, no! :P It has not. I finished it back in 2003, back when the site still permitted .html uploads for stories. So, thought-speak was easy to do. But earlier this year I noticed, upon re-reading my story, that they had **__**all**__** been undone. I was not a happy camper! But I haven't had time to edit it all on my master copy until now. And as such, I'm trying to fix them so that it reads the way that it should. Plus I edited a lot of other crap from back then, because I was a teenager and apparently didn't think editing was important. Failure on my part! At any rate, here's the new, edited versions. One by one I'll update them. Please enjoy!)**_

Author's Notes: Harvey's mine. Mwah. Take him and face my wrath. Anyway, all the original characters belong to K.A. Applegate. Yeah, that sucks. This will have SLASH, but I'm not going to tell you who it's with. Just know it's an original character with one of the Animorphs. I know it's sort of over-done to have someone come into the group, but it was too hard to resist. Still, hope you enjoy it. I screwed with the time line a little bit, too. This takes place when they're in their Freshman year. Pretty close to the end, but I tend to like squeezing in my little bit. Don't forget to review!

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"Honestly, I really didn't know that it was going to be on the test."

I thought he was lying, he being my friend Aaron. He usually likes to see me squirm on the days of tests when I don't know what's going to be on it. But this time he'd told me. Yeah, he told me the -wrong- things. If I fail the test because of that, I'm certainly going to kick some serious butt.

By the way, my name's Harvey. Just your simple, average kid. Freshman in high school, age 15. I'm nothing out of the average, really. I've been described in so many different ways, but in lamens terms, I'm a tall boy with slightly long brown hair (it hangs just about to my eyebrows) with very faintly tanned skin. Just like a lot of the other boys in my school. Different, how, you ask? I couldn't tell you.

I was on my way with Aaron and my other friend, Randy, to the library. It was just after fourth period which meant only one thing: lunch. Yeah I know, nerd, right? Since I'm going to the library for lunch and all. Truth be told, I haven't eaten lunch all week--all my money's being pooled to a savings account for that nice little Gameboy Advance I saw in the window at the local Wal-Mart the other day. I'm about a fourth of the way there.

When we'd reached the library Aaron gave us a wave good-bye. He was off to eat lunch with his girlfriend. Since the library was along the way, he felt it only kind to go with us. Pretty absorbed if you ask me...She'd tell him to beg and he'd probably do it.

"'Bye," I said.

I held the door open for Randy like the gentleman I was (pfft, yeah, okay. Me, a gentleman? I just didn't feel like waiting), but when I turned around he was talking to someone else. I had some pretty easily distracted friends.

"Are you coming?" I asked, sounding much more impatient than I'd planned.

Randy waved a dismissive hand in my direction and I groaned out, shrugging him off and walking into the library.

It was full of kids as it usually was during lunch. There were computers to the right of the entrance and the check-out counter was to the left. After walking past the counter I slid around the left, surprised when I accidentally ran into a table. I guess you could say I'm terribly accident proned. The sound reverberated through the library and I got a couple "shh's!" and "be -quiet-!"'s, which didn't phase me much. I just made my way through the maze of circular surfaced tables and slipped beyond the wall and into the labryinth of shelves.

Of course I knew where I was going. There were breaks in the wall-like shelves, an occasional table being around. There was one section of the library in which I knew I was pretty much the only one who went there, and it was a good distance away from here. I couldn't see over the shelves but I knew where I was going. After about a minute or two I began to notice the familiarly labeled spines, the ones leading to 'my' spot.

But it wasn't just my spot anymore. I had just about turned the corner when I heard someone grumbling something. Not exactly sure was to what it was, I leaned in, pressing myself against the bookshelf somewhat. It was a good thing they had a board in the middle so books could be placed on both sides, or whoever was on the other side would've heard me.

And then I heard it. The familiar voice of Jake, one of the kids in my Algebra class.

"I regret having to meet here, but Cassie here says her dad are gonna be in the barn most of the day. What did you say it was?"

Then I heard Cassie's voice. She was in my English class. "Dad's relocating some animals from the Gardens. He didn't tell me what, so we might have some new morphing forms."

Morphing? Eh? What in the--

My jumbled thoughts were cut off by Rachel's voice. I knew who she was because I'd talked to her more than a few times. Ran into her at the mall one day when I was hanging out with Aaron and Randy. She dropped her shopping bag and I helped her to pick it up. Seemed rather grateful, too.

"I've got a feeling this wasn't the best place for us to meet. Anyone could walk up on us talking about this."

"Meh," It was Marco.

Marco was a friend of mine. Well, more so than any of the others. We sat next together in history; the days he was there, anyway. I ate lunch with him once in a while and joked around. Jake and I got along all right, same with Cassie. Rachel and I were more on acquaintance terms, which was nice because I always had someone to work with in science if I didn't have any other partners for projects. But she always seemed to disappear when we made plans to meet. Never knew why.

Marco continued on, "It's not like anyone comes to this part of the library, anyway. According to some dude I know, it's pretty much his section. Or at least, this tiny secluded part of it was."

"So where do you think this 'dude' you know is?" Jake again.

With the pause that came after that, I can only assume that Marco shrugged. "He's off somewhere. Probably at lunch..." Another pause. "...Like most sane people," he added.

There was a short silence from all of them before Jake began to speak again. "So we'll just see them tomorrow then. Any powerful morphs would be helpful...I think the Hork-Bajir are growing used to our battle morphs."

Powerful battle morphs? Hork-Bajir? What in the world were they talking about? I leaned in closer, hoping the voices would rise just a bit. But they didn't. Instead I heard a light laughter.

Marcos spoke this time. "Not much could beat the morphs we have now, though. I mean, come on. We've got Jake's tiger morph, Cassie's Hork-Bajir morph, my gorilla morph, Rachel's nearly unstoppable Grizzly morph, Tobias' Andalite _and_ Hork-Bajir morph, and then we've got just Ax. It's insane. You'd think we'd be having less problems with taking down the Yeerks."

My mind was swimming. Confusion was pretty much the only word I could sum it up to. I tried to walk away, to act like I'd never heard any of it, but that idea was soon thrown out the window when I stumbled back and tripped over my overly large foot. Nature's a bitch sometimes, you know? My heart was racing as I grabbed a hold of the shelf to regain my balance. That didn't work out too well.

My heart was practically slamming against my rib cage, the beating of my own blood ringing in my ears. I was surely going to be caught. Rubbing my eyes I attempted to listen once again when I heard one of them mutter a shushing sound.

"Is someone there?" Jake called out.

"Of course someone's _there_, Jake. They're just not going to admit they are!" Rachel sure did sound angry...Not a very good combination. I heard footsteps and my heart sank.

I tried to walk away but my legs didn't seem to want to move. I just sat there, sort of helpless.

"Crap," I muttered under my breath.

I just stood there in wait of what was to come. I had expected Rachel to come bounding around the corner, but to my surprise, it was Cassie. She certainly did look surprised. Giving me a once-over she disappeared back on the other side of the shelf, and I could've sworn she whispered to Marco:

"Your 'dude' is here, obviously not at lunch."

I was surprised I hadn't shot off and left them be. Maybe because I was afraid of what was going to happen if I did. I mean, I could very well have just listened in on something that was of top-secret status.

And I was right.

It was all hush-hush for a few seconds until I saw an arm snake around the corner and grab a hold of mine. After being abruptly dragged to the opposite side, I was rather rudely pushed into a seat by none other than Rachel. Of course, once she'd calmed down, she apologized for being so harsh. But the critical nature of this little encounter was much higher than I must've realized. They were all looking at me like I had this giant bug crawling on my face.

"W-What?" I managed to choke out.

Nothing. Silence.

Until Jake gave Marco some kind of look. "Was this the guy you were talking about?"

He just nodded.

I knew they had talked about me, and it took a lot of effort not to let my face turn a bright shade of pink. Rachel's bright blue eyes were piercing into me, and I was sincerely worried for myself. I might just die.

"Harvey man, what's up? Heh."

I just looked at Marco and then back down to the center of the table. I felt like I was on trial and they were the jury: the ones who could decide my fate. After a long pause Jake spoke again.

"How much did you hear?"

I didn't know if I should answer that question honestly. There were two possible choices: One, I lie and might get off easy. Two, I tell them the truth and tell them what I heard. As oddly frightened as I was, I decided to go for the kamikaze choice and tell them the truth.

And from that came even more of that mind-numbing silence. My eyes shifted from one of them to the next, the same look in each and every pair of orbs I met. They were contemplating.

"This is really serious," Cassie said, breaking the veil of quietness. And what's more? She sounded really worried.

"This could be a David issue all over again," Jake stated. Didn't quite understand that, so I let it slide.

"The situation's different this time," Rachel retorted. "...David _found_ the box. His parents were turned into Controllers and there wasn't much else we could do." Her voice seemed to shudder at the name of him. "Harvey walked up on us. This is much, much different."

Cassie lifted a hand to her face and massaged her brows. "But still, this is really serious."

I was sincerely lost. They continued to talk like I wasn't even there, which was fine with me. But they were speaking in code, that I could at least tell. "The you-know-what hidden you-know where." I'm not that stupid, honestly.

But it wasn't like I could up and say something, no. The looks they were giving me between sentences that worried me. Before I could think on it any more, Jake sighed and cut them all off.

"We have no choice but to tell him. He's heard too much."

And of course, I didn't object again.

I sort of wished I had.

. . .

They'd told me. Told me everything. It sounded like some twisted movie plot: Alien creatures taking over host bodies and using them as what they called "Controllers". A war they'd waged for over a year now, hidden in the safety of their anonymity. About how they used the power of a fallen "Andalite" to morph into animals from this world and ones beyond. About the Yeerks. Those were the creatures that could take control of your life. They told me you could never tell who was a Controller. It could be your mom, dad, siblings, next-door neighbor, your teacher. They told me how Tobias, this kid that just sort of disappeared, had turned into a "nothlit", or a morpher who stayed in morph for more than two hours. He even gained his power back from this person called the Ellimist. I even learned about David: the Animorph gone wrong. At least now I knew who he was. Oh, and about The Sharing. The organization that secretly is run by Yeerks. How they 'help' people...how they ruin them. Am I forgetting anything? Probably, but my brain was swimming already because of the ten ton weight that had been dropped on it. It was so much to swallow, and they'd managed to condense it down within the forty five minute lunch period. I don't know how.

But the thing is, everything was different. After I'd sworn to secrecy at least five or six times they let me go, and I ended up going with Marco because we had the same class. From my view, however, it was because they probably didn't trust me enough yet. I didn't complain though, I really didn't want to be alone after hearing that story. Who _would_? Have to be insane, they would.

I kept giving everyone in the halls second glances. Even people I knew as good friends that I passed got a disbelieving glance from my dark eyes. I felt terrible for doing it, but it had become this...instant instinctive thing. I don't know how to explain it. Just...Well, I didn't know if it was really them, or if it was one of those...slugs.

"Kind of changes your perspective, doesn't it?" Marco asked, giving me a side-glance before returning his gaze in front of him. His hands were in his pockets.

I snorted. "Yeah, it does. How do you guys live with it?"

We turned a corner, slipping into our history class. Taking our usual seats in the near back, Marco glanced around before casually replying, "We don't. Adaptation is the key. We're getting there, at least."

I just kind of nodded. Still hard to swallow. I wouldn't have believed a word of it if I hadn't stumbled in and eavesdropped some. But now it all seemed surreal...And as the teacher walked into the room, he received a rather furtive look from me. I wasn't going to be able to look at anyone the same ever again.

. . .

I went home that afternoon more paranoid than I'd ever been. My mom wasn't home yet, and neither was my dad. Little sis wasn't going to be home for about an hour or so. My older brother Derrick wasn't home just yet either. He was usually at work until about three thirty or so. I looked at the clock.

Only three.

Good. I needed some time to myself before trying to talk to any of them. I wasn't that good a liar, and my cheeks often turned pink when I tried to. Hiding the knowledge I knew might just make me pink for the rest of my life. However long that would be, now that I knew of the _real_ issues going on.

So I just wandered up to my room, shut the door behind me and jumped on my bed.

Everything looked the same. I knew it wasn't going to actually _look_ different, but it certainly felt different. The possibility that any one of my family members could be lost in the cataclysmic depths of their own minds. Having to surrender control to those gray slugs. The bastards. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed, staring up at the ceiling. All those memories of the past year I had...were they of my actual loved ones, or just their bodies? Why had I decided to go to the stupid library and not just head to the lunchroom?

I heard the front door open downstairs. The abnormally loud slam alerted me that Derrick was home. A little early, too. I ignored it though, reaching over to my nightstand and gathering up my book. I'd had it half read, but the last time I picked it up was last week or something. Derrick stomped his way upstairs, going into his room across the hall and slamming that door, too. Whatever his problem was, it was pretty big—Derrick didn't slam doors often.

Just as soon as I'd started reading my book, Derrick came waltzing into my room.

"I got fired!" he said, sounding quite heated.

I sat up and blinked. "Fired? Why'd they fire you?"

With a groan and a shrug, he plopped down on my bed and glared at nothing. "Well, they laid me off, actually. But that's as good as getting fired. I guess I should go looking for a new job. But I've got class around four thirty. I've gotta job search tomorrow, I guess."

I found myself staring at his forehead while he talked. Marco and the others told me that the Yeerks entered through your ear and spread themselves out over your brain, pushing into the crevices. Were those Derrick's eyes, or was I staring into the tiny, blind eyes of a Yeerk? I'd hoped it wasn't the latter. I dropped my book to the bed and then sighed.

"That sucks. Where do you think you'll be applying?"

"I don't know. I guess anywhere and everywhere. Just whoever's hiring."

I nodded knowingly. It wasn't easy finding a job. Not in this town. Everyone who was anyone was working, which made it very hard for most teenagers to find jobs. Especially college aged ones. I didn't even have a job. But then again, I'm not allowed to have one. Schoolwork comes first. Bleh.

Derrick lifted himself from my bed and walked over to my door, hovering about it with a slightly raised mood since he had ranted. After he thanked me for listening he left, shutting my door behind him.

I just returned to my book and let myself drown in its pages.

. . .

This morning I saw Jake and Marco standing together by their locker. I gave them a friendly wave and made my way in their direction. The both of them looked absolutely bushed. Jake had light bags under his eyes and Marco looked like he was ready to dove off any minute. After I waved a hand in front of their faces I shook my head.

"What were you two up to last night?" I asked in a hushed voice.

They both looked at me, Jake staying quiet while Marco shrugged.

"Lots of homework," he said, emphasizing homework. I got the picture right away. They'd been off...saving the world. How corny did that sound?

"Sucks," I said.

"That it does," Jake agreed.

I felt sort of awkward. I think they did too.

"So Jake!" I said. "Think we should get going for a roaring good time in Algebra?"

I don't know if he thought I was funny or not, but the faint smile that flickered over his pale face made me lean just a little bit toward yes. Jake gathered his books and dropped them into his bag, rubbing his eyes some. We waved goodbye to Marco and made our way down the hall, through the English hall and past the History. Jake didn't say much, and I didn't blame him. The poor guy looked really tired. Drained, even.

When we walked into the room, we took our seats near one another, me just a seat or two ahead and to his right. I wouldn't exactly say Jake and I were friends in a sense that we did things together; we were more of the school acquaintance variety. But I don't know...Ever since yesterday, I saw him in a totally different light. He wasn't just Jake anymore, the Jake who used to ask Mr. Giloske how in the world a Logarithm was going to help us later on in life. He was Jake, the fighter. Jake, the leader. Jake, the one who had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

And he handled it like nobody's business.

The class was over faster than it seemed to have begun. We were out in the hall and on our own separate ways. I gave him a wave before wandering down the hall, slipping around the corner toward the science hall. If all went well, Rachel would be there and I'd have someone to talk to. Well, she really was the only one I talked to in that class—Randy and Aaron didn't have it with me, so I was kind of a loner unless I spoke with her.

When I entered, she was sitting in her usual seat, looking just as spectacular as she always did. Though, her head was sort of leaning down toward the desk. She might fall asleep if she wasn't careful. Choosing not to be too conspicuous (we had free seating), I took a seat a bit away from her, kind of to her northwest. I usually didn't sit by her, so yeah.

I turned around to give her another look, and sure enough her head was slowly making its way closer to her desk. Eventually it met with the cold surface and she jumped up in her seat, wild blue eyes darting around before landing peacefully on the board in the front of the room. Just another normal day in my life...giving stares to each and every one of my peers. I felt so paranoid, but there was no way around it...That was my new state of being. All because I had decided to go the library.

Hurrah.

. . .

The rest of the day went by in a flash. It didn't seem like I'd spent that much time in each of my classes, but then again, I was much too busy thinking of other things to actually listen to my teachers. Not that I ever did anyway.

When I arrived home it was much like it had been yesterday: no one was there. I'd grown accustomed to that. Tossing my bag onto the chair in the entry hallway I stepped into the living room, plopping myself down on the couch. I began to search for the remote, but to no avail did I find it. Then I looked over at the coffee table--it was right next to the TV guide. Should have guessed that's where it would have been. I reached forward and grabbed a hold of it, turning on the TV and laying back on the comfy cushions.

Nothing was on. Nothing interesting, at least. Just those annoying furniture redecorating shows and little kids' educational "fun" shows. I didn't understand why anyone in their right mind would watch a talk show, so I just flipped past those. I never realized before how boring and stupid TV had gotten...So I turned it off and made way upstairs.

I took root on my bed and started reading my book again, uninterrupted this time, of course. It was nice considering my house is usually full of hustle and bustle and the only time I ever get to myself is when I'm trying to sleep. Hadn't been doing a lot of that lately, though. Whatever the case, it was still nice to get some rest and relaxation. Bit by bit I could feel myself growing tired, and before long I'd dozed off, book parted over my chest.

I was awoken rather abruptly by a hand shaking me. When I opened my eyes, I saw my sister. For those few blissful moments I saw her as just my sister, not a possible Controller. She told me that someone had called for me and that they were gonna call back in about ten minutes. Naturally I asked who, but she didn't say; she didn't know because they hadn't left their name. I first thought of Randy or Aaron, but they usually left their name. So...it had to be either someone who knew me that I didn't know, or one of the five new 'friends' I'd made. Well, four, since Marco and I were already pretty good friends. But I couldn't help feeling a light ping of worry.

Who called, and for what?

Just about ten minutes later, like Jenny had told me, they called again. I answered the phone on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Yo." It was Marco. My heart was still beating semi-fast, still worried.

"What's up?"

"Not a whole lot. Hey listen." His voice grew sort of strained. "Think you could come over to my house? Got some...homework I need your help on."

"Oh sure. Just have to ask my mom, is all. Since it probably isn't a problem, I could be over there pretty soon." Marco only lived about two or three blocks away from me. I could just ride my bike there. But then I had to take the time to re-read that sentence in my mind. Did he mean homework, or...'homework'?

"That's cool. See you then."

"Later."

Click.

I ran down the stairs and asked my mom. She said that since I had my homework done (yeah, so I lied), I could go. So I went.

It only took me five minutes or so to get to Marco's. He answered his door and let me in, taking me to his room. I'd been in his house before and his room as well, so it was no different. Except now I was full of worry because of something that could possibly happen. Something that may change the fate of the world. I really wish that I hadn't told them I heard something.

"We're gonna go to Cassie's barn."

Cassie's barn? Oh...That's right. I forgot. Her parents were veterinarians and worked at The Gardens. I'd been there once or twice. I should have guessed she had some kind of barn or something to hold all those exotic animals that they took care of. I didn't know how far away she lived, but Marco assured me it wasn't that far.

"Since you can't exactly morph...We'll have to go by bike. Good thing it's still light out. Many thanks to Daylight savings time..."

"I've gotta be home before ten, you know. Do you think it'll take that long?"

Marco shook his head, grabbing hold of his jacket before making his way toward the door. "So, let's go."

And off we went.


	2. Discoveries

_**Author's Notes: I forgot to mention that I did not modify my plot at all. It's all in its original state. So, as such, there are one or two plot holes, and things that even made me go wtf? But I wanted to leave them because I didn't want to change the integrity of my story. I feel like I'd be doing myself wrong. Dunno why, but anyways, yes. Please enjoy!**_

* * *

The sunlight was nice, especially since we didn't have to travel further than the outskirts of the town. Her barn was there, and when we entered, I got that same strange feeling of being out of place that I had that day in the library. I shouldn't though, right? I was among friends...more or less. Marco was my friend and I guess the others were going to be such further on down the line. Not that I wouldn't disagree with that...They were all pretty cool.

It was all fine and dandy until I wandered a bit further in.

"Holy crap! Who's that!" I pointed at blue and flurry...creature standing near one of the stalls. I knew that it wasn't quite an 'it', but a person. How...that managed to elude me.

((Not an abnormal reaction,)) he said. But he didn't exactly _say_ it. I just heard it in my head. Okay, that was really odd. He had eyes on top of two slightly long stalks, and he looked like some sort of mix between a human, deer and…from the looks of that tail, I'd say scorpion. Dangerous mix.

"How'd he do that?" I asked, flabbergasted almost.

"Do what?" Jake asked.

"How'd he...talk without moving his..." I stopped. Upon closer inspection I saw that he didn't quite have a mouth. Some sort of...thing. I don't think I'd be able to describe it for the life of me. "Oh nevermind."

I stepped over toward Marco and took a seat on a bail of hay, folding my hands in my lap. I was freaked out beyond measure and it probably showed.

"Maybe Ax should go human?" Rachel suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. We don't need Harvey running out on us." Jake gave a nod to Ax, who I assumed was the alien.

((Perhaps it would be best for me to describe what I am, exactly, before I morph human?)) There it was again...that voiceless string of words.

"By the way, it's called thought-speak." It was like Marco had read my mind. Was that one of their powers? Hopefully not.

"So...what exactly is he?" I asked. I felt like I was clouded in darkness...Helpless, almost. I didn't know anything.

((I am an Andalite. Surely when Prince Jake told you the story of how they came to acquire their powers they mentioned my brother?))

Oh, an Andalite. I knew that...That's what that Elfangor guy was. I was curious as to why they didn't tell me about Ax any. Maybe they were afraid I'd be off and running because of the 'scary' alien creature? Obviously they didn't know that much about me. And then it hit me. They really didn't. Except for Marco.

"Ah...So you're Elfangor's brother? Interesting." I tried to make it sound like I wasn't freaked out (I was just a little), and it was working so far.

Jake cleared his throat. Everyone, including me, hushed. It was just something you did when Jake made that sound. "You're probably wondering why I had Marco bring you here, aren't you?"

"You know, I think we're _all _interested in knowing that," Rachel said with a questioning tone.

She didn't know either? From the looks on the others' faces, they didn't seem to have any clue as to why he'd called them here either. Ax had a strange look on his face, though. You could read it through his eyes. Or at least, his newly human eyes. I hadn't even noticed him morph.

"Why ­_did_ you bring us here?" Cassie asked.

"Well..." Jake began, "I've been doing some thinking."

Marco sighed, folding his arms over his chest. "Nothing good ever follows 'I've been doing some thinking'."

Everyone stayed silent.

"Like I said, I've been doing some thinking. And I think...I think we may need some more...Help."

"Help?!" Rachel exclaimed. "Remember what happened with David, Jake?"

Back to that David guy. I was nothing like him...nor was I ever going to be.

"Yes," Jake said sternly. "I remember what happened with David. But this is different. None of us knew David. We _all_ know Harvey here, more or less."

Cassie looked to me, then to Jake. "Granted, we never really spoke much. But he seems really sweet."

"I guess it's a bit different," Rachel said, chewing on her lower lip.

"Well it is. And I know that we all think we can do it with just the six of us, but I've been second-guessing. If we had another Animorph, we might just be able to do more damage. Especially with that Anti-Morphing Ray running around."

The six of them? I only counted five. Who was missing? Oh right. Tobias.

Jake answered that for me. "I had Tobias go and get the pieces of the Morphing Cube."

There was a collective gasp, Marco a bit more dramatic. Rachel furrowed her thin eyebrows and Cassie just sort of shook her head. They must've still been really upset about the whole David deal. But honestly, they should know I wouldn't be like him!

"He should be back any time."

And so we waited. It was sort of silent, though there were glances given in my direction and I felt my face heat up some. I didn't know what to say. If...If they were going to make me one of them...This was going to be really weird. Especially since they had been at it for so long and I would be a newbie. But did I want to go on in life knowing about the Yeerks and not be able to do nothing about it, or change my life forever and possibly die in the process?

I think I was going to chose the latter.

"There he is," Jake called out a few minutes later.

There was a strange sound coming from above, and when I looked up I noticed a red-tailed hawk flying through the rafters. He had a blue, glowing box with him. I could only guess what that was. He fluttered down and dropped the box in Jake's lap, and I sighed some, nervous.

Cassie moved close to Jake and stood beside him, nibbling on her fingernail some before placing it on Jake's shoulder. "Now...It's your decision. We won't force you. But I just know that...after hearing the story, you had to think differently." Her voice was soft, comforting. "But if you're anything like I imagine you to be, helping us is something you want to do. And you'd be able to protect your family...and possibly prevent the enslavement of the human race."

There was no way for me to argue with that. And I'd feel guilty beyond all thought if I said no. But this was...a really big decision. And I couldn't back down. I paused some, taking in a large breath before exhaling it out.

"I'll...I'll do it."

It seemed like the tense sensation they all had disappeared after my decision, as I heard a few held breaths released. Jake stood, Cassie removing her hand, him making his way toward me with the box outstretched.

I had to admit, my heart was racing pretty fast at that moment. I may have been sweating some too, I don't know. But what I did know what my hand moving forward, out of my control it seemed. It reached toward the eerie glowing cube, but it hovered above awaiting a command.

"Just place your fingers on it," Jake told me.

So I did just that.

It didn't do anything at first. But then I felt this strange shock shoot through my body. It didn't hurt, just...tingled. And as soon as it had came it had gone, leaving me with a laughy feeling. But I figured it would have made the moment weird if I'd done so. I pulled my hand back, staring at the box somewhat before glancing over at Marco, then to Jake.

"It's done." He sounded satisfied. "Welcome to the group."

We were all silent for a little bit. There wasn't really anything to say for the most part. I was curious when I was going to get to do something.

"I think the safest thing to do is to teach him how to acquire first," Jake said. I agreed. What help was the morphing power if I couldn't do anything?

Rachel jumped off of her bail of hay, looking at each of them, then finally at me. "Who's gonna teach him?"

"It could be a group lesson," Marco said with a light laugh. Nobody else even let out the faintest hint of a snicker or giggle. Made me feel sorry for him.

"It's really not that hard," Jake said. He placed the Morphing Cube on the stall and then glanced around. "Cassie, do you have any birds in here?"

"Er..." Cassie shook her head. "We haven't had any lately. None of them seem to be hurting themselves."

"There goes the first part of my plan," Jake grumbled. But then his face lit up. Partially anyway. He pointed outside. "When the going gets tough--"

"--The tough capture birds," Marco filled in. This time I sort of laughed.

Jake looked up into the rafters at Tobias. "Tobias, what kinds of birds are around here?"

((There's a few ravens and maybe another red tailed hawk. That's all I've seen. Unless Harvey here wants to morph sparrows and blue-jays, I think we're going with them.)) He fluttered his wings, flying downward and toward the exit. Grasping a hold of the bar sticking out on the side of the door to leave, Tobias fixed his wings.

"Well, it's better than nothing?" I commented.

I looked around. Cassie was sort of smiling and Marco looked like he usually did. Ax...well, I didn't know how Andalites were supposed to look. Jake looked about the same as always, and Rachel seemed sort of annoyed. I think she still figured I'd be like that David kid. Even if we -did- know each other, people change. People have secrets. I might just have some myself, but I'd never betray my friends. And I assumed that's who these six were now: my friends. I don't know if I was allowed to have other friends or not, now...they all seemed friendless when I saw them around the school before I knew. Isolation in a small group. That wasn't the best thing in the world.

"I guess it'll have to deal until we can get into The Gardens tonight." Jake started walking out, each and every last one of us following him.

It was still acceptably bright outside, and there was a forest nearby. I assumed that's where we were headed.

When we went in there, Jake told Tobias to go and search for one of the birds. We waited around the entrance while Tobias went off, and I felt slightly uncomfortable. I know I hadn't done it, but I couldn't help feeling like I'd invaded their little group. But they said it themselves, they needed another. Or at least, Jake said it and everyone went along with him. The only one who seemed to have any slight disagreement was Rachel. That was understandable, though. I'd prove to her just how wrong she was in thinking I was going to be like David. Oh yeah, that I would.

My concentration had been broken when I heard Tobias in my head.

((I found one. I acquired him myself so he's calmed down. Can't believe I had to do that, though...Acquiring a raven...)) He trailed off there, but started back up again. ((I'm just a few yards in front of you guys past that pair of trees.))

We made our way past the two trees that Tobias had described and, sure enough, there he was, on the ground with a raven beneath his talons. It was weakly twitching, but it wasn't dying.

"We better hurry. It's breaking from the trance." Jake pulled me forward and we leaned down near the raven. Tobias kept a hold of it, his wings flapping some to keep his balance and not hurt the creature.

"Now, the creature has to be alive to acquire it. If it dies, then the DNA strands don't seem to absorb right or something. Elfangor never made it perfectly clear..." Jake eyed the raven before looking to me. "...Put your hand on it."

I was a bit skeptical, but I trusted Jake. Something about him just alerted you he was trustworthy. I couldn't put a finger on it. But I did what he told me to, and I put my hand (shaking slightly, I'll add) onto the midnight black feathers.

"Now think of the creature."

I closed my eyes and saw the raven with my mind's eye. There was a strange tensing feeling in my body, and I pulled back a few seconds later. When I opened my eyes, the raven was resting on the ground, eyes shut. I think it fell asleep.

"That's it. You've got it down."

"Now comes the fun part," Marco said. I looked at him with a raised brow, but he didn't say any more.

Jake returned to his feet. "We should...go back to the barn. We don't exactly need anyone waltzing into the forest."

"Then off we go back to our happy little place," Marco said.

We all wandered back to the barn and Cassie shut the doors behind us, a darker tint taking over the decor of the inside. There was hardly any light, but I could still see. And that's when Rachel flipped some switch over in the other corner, bringing light into the area. Yeah, that was some smart thinking there, I thought.

I was gently moved to the center by Jake, each one of them standing around as he moved back. Now I felt like I was in the spotlight. I folded my arms over my chest and let out a light sigh, looking to Marco, then to Jake.

"So now what do I do?"

"You morph," Jake replied simply.

Oh that was realy helpful. I just..._morph_? Well how am I supposed to go about doing that?

"Er...How?" I asked.

I thought Jake was going to say something, but this time, much to everyone's surprise, Rachel spoke up. "You just focus on the creature in your head. And while you think about it, your body just...changes. But you've gotta keep the image or you'll stop. Midmorph is _not_ pretty."

I took that to heed. So I just needed to focus on the bird, right? Just focus on the bird and that was that. Piece 'a cake. I closed my eyes and the raven's image came up. I thought about myself, then the raven, and that's when I felt it begin.

The changes were subtle at first. I could feel this tingling sensation on my arms, and when I opened my eyes and looked down at them, I was quite weirded out. A dark black line was traveling up the middle of my arm, branching out to form strange lines that looked like feathers when the line had moved further up. It was really, really...disturbing. I watched in slight horror as my skin turned black, almost like a rag absorbing ink. And then what I saw freaked the living daylights out of me: feathers were actually popping _out_ of my black arms.

But I didn't have any time to think about that, because as soon as I tried to let out a sound of disgust, my lips started to harden. They grew outward, turning a dangerously black color. I could see the tip of them, and I was sincerely worried now that I couldn't speak. I even think I heard my bones hollowing out...

I screamed in my head when I felt myself falling. Well, it seemed like I was falling when in all reality I was just shrinking. I assumed that, anyway. Everyone grew extremely tall, and I think I was at about two feet when I heard a grumbling sound coming from my insides. I could feel them shifting and changing--a sickening sound.

It was all happening so fast. I could feel my feet harden and I heard my toes melt together, then break into the talons of the raven. I'd shut my eyes, too absorbed by all the sounds of my insides squishing and twisting about. After the last few seconds of my transformation, I could hear the slightly disgusted sounds of the others. Obviously they thought morphing just as weird as I did. But I thought that after all they'd been through, they'd be used to it. Guess not.

When it had finally ended, I felt another sensation in my brain. I don't know how to explain it. It was like...kind of like the raven was a part of me. I was feeling instincts: fly, find food. Take the food back to the nest. Feed. But with those instincts came another new feeling...intelligence. This bird wasn't stupid. I didn't really think animals were smart, though. Well, some at least. I'd seen a program the other day on birds and how some of them used tactics and skill to survive, and how some of them were taught, and their intelligence rose. Some things you just can't understand until you're there, I guess.

But anyway. I heard Jake's voice, and when I opened my eyes, I shouted. They all must've heard it because they winced.

I was a good distance away from Jake, as I was down on the floor standing no taller than maybe a foot or foot and a half. My eyesight was beyond measure, though. A big step up from a human's, that was for sure. I was staring face to face with Jake and I wasn't even close to him.

"I think he's got control of the morph," Rachel said.

((Control of the morph?)) They must've heard that too because Jake nodded.

"It's all very new, I know. But you know how you felt when you finished the morph, right?"

How was I supposed to respond? Of course, I'd been thinking words before and they had heard me, but the thought to keep doing that didn't seem to occur to me. Well, it wouldn't hurt to try again, I thought.

"Wouldn't hurt to try what again?" Jake asked.

((So you _can_ hear me!))

"Of course we can. You're using thought-speak."

((So that's what this is? I just think like I'm speaking and it goes out...wow, makes sense.))

Marco laughed. "Harvey, I don't think it takes anyone as long to get something as it does you."

I shot my head in Marco's direction and cocked it. I knew that was an insult, but it was true. Kinda took me a while to formulate conclusions. That wasn't the point though. The point was that...

I was a bird!

((This is beyond cool.))

"I remember the first time I morphed. It was hell." Jake laughed. "Something I'll remember for the rest of my life."

((I think this definitely goes in that category,)) I said. I was extremely eager to actually do something...

"Well," Cassie said, sounding surprised. "I think he's got it pretty well." She turned to me and looked down with a smile. "Bet you want to fly, don't you?"

I nodded as best I could in my morph. The raven mind kept picking at me, but I was doing surprisingly well in not giving into the desire to fly off and eat. Though, I was kind of hungry.

"Well, one of us should go with you just to be safe," Jake said.

"I'll go with him," Marco said.

That was cool. I opened my wings and flapped them, and to my surprise I hovered in the air for a moment. Granted, I fell back down afterwards, but that was okay. I was new to this.

"Okay then. That's good, because Rachel and I have to go to this dinner thing with my dad later tonight. Whole family's going...When is that?" He turned to Rachel.

"In about an hour and a half," she said, brushing her hair over her shoulder. "Or two hours, one of them. We should get going."

((Wouldn't mind me following you about for a while, would you? Marco and Harvey, I mean.)) It was the first time Tobias had spoken for a while. ((It gets kind of bored trying to explain to Ax the purpose the television programs we get.))

((I find them absolutely fascinating,)) Ax commented.

Everyone sort of laughed, and we all went off on our own separate ways. But before Jake left, he made especially sure to remind Marco to tell me the rules and warnings of morphing. Guess it was something important, because Marco let out some kind of frustrated sigh. Hopefully it wouldn't be that difficult. Cassie told us that we could use the barn if we needed to, but to be extremely careful because her parents were going to be back soon and she wasn't sure when, exactly. So, we waited for Marco to morph and we were off, just three oddly mixed species of birds.

Flying was absolutely one of the best things anyone or anything can ever experience. Take your happiest memory and multiply it by like, three. That's what it's like to fly. I didn't have the slightest clue on how to do it, but I was doing alright. Marco told me to let the raven's mind guide me, so I did just that. It was...beyond measure.

((The first rule,)) Marco began, ((is to always remember the two hour rule. Stay in morph for longer than two hours and you're stuck in that morph forever.))

((So what happened in Tobias' case?)) I asked.

((Long, long story with boring details,)) Tobias told me. So I just settled with that.

((I'll be sure to remember that. The rule, I mean.))

((Good. Shouldn't be that bad for you, then.))

((A little hint on flying,)) Tobias said as he raised higher, ((altitude equals speed. And try to get those nice thermals, alright?))

Oddly enough, that all made sense to me. The bird part of me at least. So, I spread my wings, letting the nice warm air from the cement below push me up higher.

((Whoo-Hoo!))

((I think he's having fun,)) Tobias said.

((Like David did,)) Marco muttered.

I knew that David was a really touchy subject for all of them. I might've been an idiot for even thinking of it, but I was going to ask Marco later what happened with him. If he didn't tell me that was okay, I'd just ask the others and see what they had to say.

Tobias told us that he had to go, leaving me and Marco when we were somewhere above the mall. That was fine, because we'd been flying for quite a while, and we'd have to demorph soon.

((We should go back to the barn,)) Marco said. ((Dad's gonna freak if I don't get back for dinner.))

((Mine too,)) I said. What time was it now? Guess it might've helped if there was some sort of clock around. I spilled the air from my wings and twisted around after Marco did, and we headed for the barn.

After we'd made sure Cassie's parents weren't around, Marco and I flew into the barn and demorphed. It took me just a bit longer than it did him, as it was to be expected. Since I hadn't exactly learned to morph clothes (it was my first time, give me a break), I hastily searched for my own that had been left in the barn. Cassie'd put them somewhere, but I couldn't find them. I asked Marco to look so I could cover myself. Could've sworn I saw his eyes linger on me after he'd said okay, but I might've been seeing things. That happens every once in a while, especially when I've got a lot on my mind.

Marco had a morphing suit of course, but he redressed in his clothes, those of which were placed along with mine. After I dressed and before we left, I tapped Marco on the shoulder and asked him, "So who's this David kid?"

I might've regretted doing that. He looked at me gravely before shaking his head. "Not here. Just come to my house."

So I said okay to that and off we went to Marco's on our bikes.

. . .

When I arrived at Marco's, I called my mom and asked her if I could spend the night at a friend's. She asked who and I lied, saying Randy's. Since it was a school night, it took her just a little bit more convincing than usual, but it worked. I don't know why I lied, but it just happened. When Marco asked his dad, he just kinda shrugged. After we had dinner Marco took me into his room and shut the door, surveying the room before bringing me over to his bed.

"Okay," he sighed. "What do you want to know about David?"

"Everything."

I don't quite think he was happy with me asking that, but he didn't object to telling me, either.

"Where to begin..." He jumped onto his bed and pulled his legs up onto it, glancing over me and toward his closet before looking at back me. "David was this kid that found the morphing cube. He was stupid and tried to sell it on the net, thus rousing up Visser Three. Long story short, the Visser turned his parents into Controllers and we turned him into an Animorph. Big mistake."

"So that's why you were all so skeptical in letting Jake make me one?"

He nodded. "Of course, we knew you. Or at least, I did."

"Rachel did somewhat too," I interjected. "And Jake."

"Yeah. But the concept of making another Animorph was still really, really shaky. Especially after what David did. See, we didn't know David. He was just some kid with dumb luck. If you could call it luck, that is. But anyway. I didn't trust him from the start. He was really rude to Jake and challenged his authority when he shouldn't have. We took him along on one of our most important missions, which was a really stupid decision, considering that it had ended up being a trap after we'd checked it out and tried to ruin it. David showed the colors of being a traitor and low and behold, that he was. He almost killed Jake." Marco paused, cheeks turning red from anger before he continued speaking. "And he had the audacity to morph into me!"

I gasped. Of course, it may have been just a little over dramatic, but the one thing that they told me was that it was against their rules to morph other humans unless it was an absolutely dire situation.

"He ended up knocking me out, tying me up and putting me in my closet. The jerk."

"So what happened to him?" I asked.

"We ended up tricking him and trapping him in rat morph."

"So that was the voice I heard that day on that rock! I just thought it was haunted..."

Marco nodded, then yawned. When I looked at the clock, I blinked. It wasn't even nine. I nudged him in the shoulder and laughed. "Tired before nine? What's up with you?"

"You fight off mind-taking slugs for a year or two and then you talk to me about 'what's up'," he said with a laugh.

"Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"Er..." Marco stood and walked over to his closet, pulling the doors apart and examining what was inside. He pulled out a blanket and pillow, tossing them in my direction. "There. You can sleep over there, right by my dresser."

"You know, I usually let people sleep in my bed," I said jokingly.

I hadn't expected Marco to say what he said next. "If you want to." If I wanted to? Was he joking? "Does that mean I get the floor, then?"

"I was just joking, dude," I said. We laughed.

"Yeah, I know. But it's just fun to play along and freak people out." He paused, looking at his bed before looking to me. "But uh, if you want to, I don't care. It's a big bed. I don't take up much room on it."

I didn't really know what to say. I wasn't used to not sleeping on a bed, so I took him up on the offer. It was awkward, yes, but it didn't really matter. Friends slept in the same bed every so often. I would've let Marco do so if he wanted to, had he stayed over at my house.

"Imagine my dad's face if he walked in," Marco laughed. I just nodded, sliding over on the bed.

"He'd kill both of us," I said.

It had been decided that Marco would sleep under the covers and I'd sleep on top, since I did that anyway.

My mind had kept me from sleeping. Add in Marco's snoring and it was nearly impossible to even attempt to fall asleep. There were so many things to think about...like how tomorrow after school, Cassie was taking me to The Gardens to get some new morphs. Battle morphs, Jake had said. Surely that'd be a fun job...

"Sorry I ruined your flowers," Marco mumbled in his sleep, rolling over as he smacked a hand to his face.

I laughed softly, shaking my head. I remember having random dreams. It was nice to know that I'd still have them after what had happened. The one thing that I couldn't stop thinking about was that David guy...

I wasn't going to turn out like that, was I?

"No, I won't," I said sternly, but quietly.

The sounds of the night were rather noisy, and I found that even after Marco stopped snoring that I couldn't fall asleep. There was just too much going on. There had to be some way to clear my mind...Maybe tiring myself out? What could I do to do tha--

"Morph!" Marco yelled, throwing one of his arms up and hitting it against his head.

Morphing! Of course! That was enough to tire me out...But I couldn't do it alone. I wasn't prepared for that yet, in my opinion. But that meant waking up Marco, and I wasn't willing to do that. He hadn't gotten any sleep the night before and he deserved at least one night of it without any interruptions.

Well, I _thought_ I wasn't willing to do that. After a few minutes of debating it, I finally decided that I was going to wake him up. I carefully reached over, tapping Marco on the shoulder. At first he didn't respond, so I did it again, just a little bit harder.

I'd gotten a response. A surprising one, too. Marco made some sort of noise and rolled over, moving on top of me with a blink. Well, he was awake. His hands were at my neck, hovering right over the skin.

"Christ," I grumbled. "Now I know not to wake you up at night."

"Sorry." He pulled his hands back, and after realizing he'd rolled on top of me, he hastily moved back to his spot, looking at me. "What do you want?" he yawned.

"I can't sleep."

He looked at me with a slight glare, though the tiredness in his eyes weakened it. "And you woke me up just to tell me that?"

I shook my head. "I was wondering if we could go flying?"

He didn't exactly disagree, but the look on his face was kind of discerning. I don't know if he was mad at me or not for asking. "Yeah...Just let me wake up first."

"Do you have any kind of morphing clothes I could wear? I don't need to get naked again."

He nodded and crawled out of his bed. It was funny to watch him stumble to his closet, especially when he stubbed his toe on the corner of his bed. After a quick curse under his breath, Marco went over to his closet and sifted through his clothes. I could barely see since it was nice and dark, but the light from the moon pouring in through his window helped me to see somewhat. He ended up getting me a slightly tight black T-shirt and a pair of biking shorts.

"Don't you morph with biking shorts?" I asked.

He nodded, frowning. "Well, I don't bike like I used to, so I guess it's best they get used for something else."

"I suppose you're right," I said, suppressing my laughter. I couldn't see Marco running around in bike shorts. Of course, Marco didn't strike me as the kind of person who bikes, anyway.

"Well, what're you waiting for? Put 'em on."

I crawled out of the bed and grabbed at the clothes, eyeing them before switching my wardrobe. It was beyond cold, that was for sure...especially going from two shirts and pants to...biking shorts with a pretty thin black shirt. After I changed, I stretched a little and looked at the window, then to Marco.

He'd fallen asleep on his bed again. That's what it looked like to me, at least. I called out his name and he grumbled, sitting back up. He opened his window, the cold air flushing in and sending a light chill down my spine. Hopefully as a bird it'd be warmer.

"You owe me," he grumbled.

"Yeah, okay," I said.

And after my second strange morphing process, I was a raven once more, Marco by my side as his osprey morph.

There were none of those thermals Tobias spoke of earlier. Marco was already tired, so he'd most likely collapse when we got back to his house. I, however, was brimming with energy, something I'd been burdened with since my childhood. I flapped my wings and soared high over the houses, my adapted vision somewhat helpful, even in the nighttime. Marco was following behind me slowly.

((Come on, slowpoke!)) I called back at him.

((Hey, hey...You're the one that didn't want to fly alone. I'm half asleep, here.))

((You'd think that you'd wake up with all this work we're having to do!))

((Unlike some people,)) Marco said with a yawn, ((I'm not full of energy twenty-four seven...))

We flew aimlessly for a few minutes longer, and I began to feel tired. But before I could come up with a statement to say such, Marco cut me off.

((Hey, look over there.))

It was really hard to tell just where "there" was when you didn't have fingers to point in its direction.

((Where?)) I asked.

((Over there, by that house with the skylights.))

We flew just a bit higher, but the raven's vision wasn't quite as good as Marco's osprey, so I stayed a little closer. Upon closer inspection, I saw a guy, probably about the age of twenty, freaking out and pulling at his head. Or at least...he was trying to. His arms were chained to the bedpost.

((Er...That's a little private, don't you think?)) I asked.

((No. Just look. It's not like they're doing -that-,)) Marco said. ((He's fully clothed and there's no one else in the room...))

((That's weird.))

((More than weird...I think he's a Yeerk.)) Marco paused, almost as if he was talking to himself before continuing on. ((I thought that the Yeerks were getting their Kandrona rays...Why's this one suffering?))

I really wasn't able to tell the different between a Controller or a regular person just yet, but I was on my way. From what I could hear, he was screaming. ((Dude, should we go get Jake or something?))

((Er...No. There's a tree over there. Let's go land in it.)) Marco spilled air from his wings and veered right, and I followed.

Once we were in the tree we had a better view of the guy chained to the bed. From here the screams were much louder, and there were words instead of the incoherent, muffled ones we had earlier. He was definitely a Controller, and the Yeerk is his head was definitely losing control of his host body.

((This is really weird to watch,)) I mumbled.

((Beyond weird. But why is he chained to the bed?))

Almost as if to answer Marco's question, a guy walked into the room with a bowl. It was obvious that he knew there was something inside the other guy's head.

"Get out of my head!!" the chained guy shouted, lashing against the covers.

((I think someone knows he's a Controller,)) I joked.

Marco laughed through thought-speak. It might've been a sarcastic laughter, or he may have thought it funny. I didn't think it was too funny, myself. ((I think that other guy knows too...'Cause he's...)) Marco paused. ((Ow! He just hit the guy upside the head!))

((But it worked,)) I pointed out. ((The Yeerk is coming out of that guy's head.))

After the Yeerk had crawled out of the other guy's skull, the one with the bowl put it in there and slammed the lid shut. Who'd want a captured Yeerk? That's when I heard the other person speak.

"There. That vile thing is out of your head. I...I trapped it in a piece of Tupperware." He crawled onto the bed, pulling out a key from his pocket. After unlocking the bondaged man, he brought him into his arms and placed a kiss atop his head.

That's when I could've sworn both Marco and I gasped at the same time. Thought-speak wise, of course. We both decided it best if we just left them to their moment.

* * *

Author's Notes: Let's Review! Go go go


	3. To Acquire, or Not?

**_Author's Notes: So yes, here is chapter three. All my old author's notes said was "Please enjoy" and "don't forget to review", so I can just reiterate them here. Ha!_**

* * *

The flight back to Marco's was a quiet one. I didn't know if he was just talking to himself or decided to be silent the rest of the way. I will admit, I said nothing either, so it wasn't like I didn't push the quietness forward. I think we were both still sort of shaken by what we saw. Of course, I could be completely wrong, but I doubt I am.

When we returned back to Marco's house, we demorphed as fast as we could. What we'd seen was just a little bit out of the ordinary and I'll admit...it kind of aroused some feeling in me. I always knew I was slightly different than everyone else, but it never seemed too extreme to worry or annoy me. Besides, it's not like there was anything to act on it, of course. I'd learned how to ignore it.

Until just a couple of minutes ago.

We decided to just sleep in our morphing clothing. And you want to know the weird part? Even after what we saw, Marco didn't care if I slept in his bed or not. It wasn't like I was going to do anything, and I certainly knew Marco wouldn't, but I'd imagined that Marco would've asked me to sleep on the floor or something. But no, we slept together, me on top of the covers and him on the bottom. Just like we had before. It was just a little different, you know?

Needless to say, it took the both of us a while to fall asleep.

. . .

I woke up to a surprisingly warm feeling against my chest. My eyes took a minute to open, and the first thing they saw was a large patch of black hair. It didn't click at first what it was, but after the sleepiness wore off, I found myself staring into Marco's hair. He was still asleep. I instantly pulled back, but my hand was wrapped around his waist and his hand had a gentle hold of mine. I stopped moving.

How the _hell_ had we gotten to be like this?

Marco smacked his lips together a few times, nuzzling his face deeper into the pillow. How was I supposed to get out of this? I knew he wasn't a very heavy sleeper, and should I move my hand, he'd probably wake up. Would I be able to get myself rolled over in time?

I tried it.

I happened to fail. Marco grumbled some and tightened his grip on my hand. I gave up for the moment being, letting my eyes wander around his room. It was still dark outside, so I knew it was before seven. School started around eight fifteen, so we'd have to get up soon. But his alarm clock was out of my view, and if I tried to move I might wake him up.

So I tried again.

Success! My arm broke free of Marco's grasp, but not without consequences. He grumbled again and rolled over, his dark eyes fluttering open for a moment. I don't think he saw me lying there, so I took this chance time peer over him and at his alarm clock.

Six thirty.

What time was it when he had left? I wasn't sure. My memory was never that useful, unless I was trying to remember the thing I was looking at. I think it might've been around midnight or so...That'd be sensible. That guy wouldn't have been stupid enough to try and get that Yeerk out of his friend's head unless he had the veil of nighttime to protect him.

I rolled back over and sighed, rubbing my face into my arm. I had part of Marco's pillow but I didn't want to use it, cause I was pretty sure we might've bumped heads. If that happened, something might take place that neither of us could explain. Did I want that?

...I didn't know.

I could hear Marco's teeth grinding together, signifying he was asleep. Good. The last thing I needed was him awake while I mentally beat myself. I could still feel Marco's hand against mine, or rather, the ghostly remnants of it. I was getting really worried...I never obsessed over things. Especially things that were living. People? I think I might've just gone over the edge.

"Why am I worrying about this so much?" I said it much louder than I'd planned. I stayed quiet for a second or two to see if I'd woken up Marco, and after I didn't get a response, I relaxed.

That was, until I heard a sleepy voice from behind me mutter, "What're you worrying about?"

My body tensed up again. I rolled over, pushing myself away nonchalantly as I did so. Face to face with Marco, I yawned. "Oh, it's nothing."

His eyes were open, looking much more awake than I'd imagined. "You're not much of a liar."

I looked away, eyes darting to the bedding between us. "I don't do it much."

A faint smile flickered on his face, half-asleep and partially lop-sided. "That's okay. You'll get better at it when time passes. We had to do it a lot...Now we just have the Chee stand in for us."

I somewhat remembered their description of the Chee. Some kid named Erik King...And a couple of other people. Didn't know a whole lot, though. I thought it best to ask more about them later on in the days, when they trusted me more than they did now. I let out another yawn and rubbed my eyes.

"It's only six thirty-five," Marco commented.

Only five minutes had passed? Felt like an eternity. "Ah. We should be getting up soon, shouldn't we?"

"I guess my biological clock hasn't been thrown off just yet," he laughed. Much more awake now than he seemed before.

I shrugged. I was feeling extremely uncomfortable, and the only thing I could think of that may have been a cause of it was being next to Marco. But to my surprise, he had moved closer. Whether it was by his own choice or the movement of the bed, I didn't know.

"Guess not," I replied, somewhat shakily.

I think he could tell somewhat that I was nervous. Marco was far from stupid, and it wouldn't be far fetched to say that he was good at reading people. From what I had seen, he usually knew how each person in the little group was going to react to something. Maybe that was why he joked around so much.

He yawned, pressing his head into the pillow and shutting his eyes. He spoke softly. "I'm gonna sleep some more before the actual alarm kicks in. Do me a favor and keep quiet, hm?"

I had no reason to object. A little more sleep wouldn't be that bad. Still, I couldn't help but think that I had another body in the same bed as me.

And I know that sparked at least a tiny bit of interest in me...somewhere.

. . .

When the actual alarm went off, I awoke with a start. I had been having a weird dream about my first mission...some kind of infiltration thing. I had been in leopard morph.

But I didn't have a leopard morph.

I'd always loved leopards. In fact, most big cats of the jungle interested me. But the most fascinating had to have been the leopard. I hoped The Gardens had some. If they didn't, I'd have to settle with whatever they had.

I rolled over and figured Marco was going to be there. Instantly my body began to flush adrenaline through my system, but it was useless; Marco was already out of the bed. I guess he woke up before the alarm went off.

I fidgeted around in the bed for a while, bored. I was just about to bite my own arm when I saw Marco walk in the room with a towel wrapped around his waist. Obviously he dressed in his room. I let my head fall back on the pillow, luckily getting him out of my view. Ever since we'd seen those two guys, my whole life seemed to shift focus. What once was nothing more than just a friend to me was suddenly a desirable object. I really didn't get it.

Before I could think on it any further, Marco walked in. He was wearing just a towel.

"Took a shower," he said.

"I assumed as much." I found that my eyes were pretty much locked on his form. When he started for the dresser, I managed to tear my eyes away. I really wish that I wasn't so...weird-feeling.

I thought all was going to be alright, but I was wrong. Marco and the others usually wore their morphing suits underneath their normal clothing, and I'd just noticed where they were when he began to walk in the bed's direction. I faked a yawn so I could close my eyes.

"Keep your eyes closed," he asked.

I wanted to respond with, "Sure, I'd love to. Nothing like looking at the inside of your eyelids to get rid of the strange feeling coursing through your body." Sarcasm, of course. All that came out was a slight mumbling agreement.

An image flashed in my brain. It was last year when I was in Health class. They were talking about homosexuals and things of the sort. I'd been ignoring it, considering it was never going to affect me. I had control over the emotions flooding through my system. Nothing ever really distracted me or broke the barrier I had keeping them safely away from my perfectly functioning mind. I was really happy about that, but now...I think I was losing it. I think that wall I put up was falling down.

And what was coming out was focusing on Marco.

I sat up and wrinkled up my nose, sighing some. Marco had gotten dressed in his morphing outfit, those annoyingly tight bike shorts and that white undershirt. I imagined him back in the bed with my hand over his chest, his body pressed against mine. When I noticed there was a little bit of arousement filling within me, I shook the thought aside and reached for my pants on the floor. I had to get my mind off of this somehow.

"Marco, didn't we have a history assignment due today?"

He didn't respond right away. When I looked up, I found myself speaking to no one. He must have gone into the bathroom to brush his teeth or something.

"Good," I said to myself.

I crawled out of the bed and put on my pants, the feeling of the bike shorts just a little weird. And with boxers? I'd never worn so many pieces of clothing waist down before. If the tight T-shirt I was wearing weren't so thin, it would have been enough to wear by itself. But, it wasn't just enough by itself. I walked over to Marco's closet and rummaged through it, pulling out a forest green and blue button-up shirt. It was just a little bit short, but it would suffice. Just as I had finished putting the shirt on and buttoning it up, Marco wandered in.

"There's some cereal in the cupboard," he said.

"Let's eat!"

Marco's dad wasn't up yet. When we went into the kitchen, poured ourselves bowls of cereal and ate. The tension between us was so thick; you could cut it with a knife. I don't know if it was just me, or if Marco was feeling just the same as me. I hoped the uncomfortable feeling of the situation would pass.

Marco was surprisingly quiet. He just sighed every once in a while, and after he'd finished eating he stood and put his bowl in the sink.

"We've gotta hurry. Bus gets here soon."

And off to school we went.

. . .

When we got off of the bus, Marco and I went up to his locker. Jake was there, reading. History book. The poor guy looked like he was about to fall asleep. The material must've been really boring.

"You had to take honors, didn't you?" Marco asked with a light laugh.

"I'm surprised I'm keeping my B average in that class when I don't even bother learning half the stuff," he said. Jake continued to skim the page, his eyes fluttering about the pages hastily. He was probably just picking out important dates, names and times.

Marco looked at me before shrugging a little. "Yeah, well, we normals are keeping a decent B average as well."

I laughed. It was true, Marco and myself were keeping a good average on our grades. I knew mine were, at least. Made me think about Cassie and Rachel, at that. I took a seat beside Jake, eyeing his book while Marco fidgeted around with his own books.

"So what's so different that you honors students do?"

"Nothing, really," Jake admitted. "We just speed through it, is all. Same stuff."

"Sounds interesting."

Before Jake could say anything, Marco cut in. "Oh that it is, Harvey. We brains have to keep a steady, fast pace, or we face the possibility of becoming slow."

We all laughed. I don't think I'd seen Jake laugh since...well, ever. I guess it was hard being the leader. I'd imagined we would have been doing at lot more stuff involving the Yeerks, but obviously their lives didn't revolve around the slugs. That was good to hear, especially since I'd joined the fight.

The bell rang. It was the five minute bell. That meant Jake and I were off to Algebra.

"What fun," he muttered.

"Isn't it, though?" I asked. My locker was on the way to the class, so I could just stop along the way.

"We should get going," Jake said.

"See? Speedy as ever," Marco joked. We all laughed a little, each of us waving goodbye to Marco before heading off to my locker and class.

. . .

I have to admit, during the whole day I was really excited about what was going on after school. Cassie, like I'd probably said a million times, was taking me to The Gardens to get me some morphs. When that final bell rang, Marco and I headed toward Cassie's locker. She wasn't there just yet, but she'd been there soon.

And sure enough, there she was, walking down the hall in our direction. Well, her locker's direction. She offered a wave and a hello, dropping off her stuff inside before slamming it shut.

"So is he going to join us?" she asked.

I looked to Marco. I didn't know if he was or not. He just followed me. "Do you want to come?"

He smiled. "'Course I do. It's like watching you when you...Well, you know, for the first time."

I smiled as well, looking to Cassie. If she didn't object, I certainly wouldn't. I enjoyed Marco's company. Even more so after yesterday.

"I don't mind. We'll have a guard now to watch while I sneak Harvey into the cages with the animals." Cassie motioned for us to follow her.

So we did. It was sort of conspicuous, though. Rachel and Cassie were best friends, and Jake sort of had a 'thing' going on between him and Cassie. I didn't usually see Cassie and Marco together without Rachel or Jake around, and now that I was in the picture? May have been a bit...weird. I wasn't the only one who thought that, either. Both Marco and Cassie suspected this, too.

So we took the long way to The Gardens.

Which, didn't end up being that bad. We were just a couple of kids walking down the street to an amusement park-slash-zoo. No one would suspect we had the power to morph into the most powerful beasts on the planet, using that power to protect their unsuspecting selves from the forces of the Yeerks. Oh no, we were just kids. And what's more, Marco and I were just friends of Cassie, the one who got us into The Gardens for free.

We started in the bird area. They told me that a raven was nice, but they made Tobias nervous. He was attacked by ravens once in a while and he had only grabbed that one for me because Jake asked him to. But what else was there?

"Falcons, golden eagles, bald eagle, harriers, ospreys, hawks, owls..."

Cassie was telling me them all while we walked past the last of the "Creatures from the Poles" exhibits. So far I had acquired a wolf from the "Creatures of the Forest" exhibit, the orca and dolphin from the marine show they were going to have, a fly that was on the wall of the bathroom (not exactly the funnest to acquire), a boa constrictor and chameleon from the reptile house (that was hell to try and do), and a cockroach from the bug house. I was kind of tired from so much walking...But having so many morphs and being able to get more was making the fatigue feel like nothing. We still had to go through the savana and jungle exhibits. That was where I'd hoped to be able to get that leopard morph...

"So which do you want?"

We were just outside the open aviary. There were cliffs with trees to the right and simply trees to the left, probably surrounding a small, man-made pond. I lifted a hand to my chin and sighed some, sort of unsure. Which morph would be good for day -and- night travel, one that I would be able to use without having to worry of a hindrance on it?

"Owl," I said. Simple as that. Owls were versatile. They could see just as wonderfully in the night as they could in the day. What other morph would be able to do that?

"Okay," Cassie said. "This way."

She led Marco and me down the path to the left.

We walked deeper into the small forest, sounds of rustling leaves and birdcalls all around us. Cassie told me there was this short-eared owl around that enjoyed drinking from the pond around this time, and that we would be able to get him. That is, if he didn't make it difficult by flying away.

"He's over there," Marco pointed out.

The owl was perched on the ground, just like Cassie had said. It leaned down and nipped at the water, completely unaware of our presence. Maybe it just didn't care.

"It's used to people coming in and every now and then. But no more than just one or two at a time. Marco? Why don't you wait here?"

"Oh sure, make _me_ wait...How nice of you, Cassie." Marco rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his chest, nodding some. "Nah, it's fine. Gives me time to rest my feet."

So, while Marco waited where we were standing while Cassie and I moved forward. The owl continued to drink, acting oblivious (or maybe not _acting_). The closer we got, the less and less it drank until finally it stopped all together and looked in our direction.

"Hello," Cassie said in a calm, peaceful voice.

I just stayed silent.

We slipped closer and Cassie motioned for me to step ahead of her. I did, the owl keeping its non-blinking stare on me. Sort of unnerving, you know?

"Good owl," I whispered as I extended my hand toward its head. It let out a soft hoot as I made contact. Focusing hard, I began to acquire the DNA of the short-eared owl.

He calmed down and went into a trance, much like the animals before him did. It was just part of the acquiring process. Didn't know why, nor did I question it. After a few seconds I pulled back and stood, smiling. Now I had two flying morphs.

"So you guys done?" Marco asked from a few feet back.

We both nodded and made our way back to him. There was just one more place to go: The Creatures of the Deep Jungle exhibit. That would not be very easy. Cassie led us there, acting no different than she usually did. It was sort of tense between the three of us, especially since the morph I'd asked Cassie to let me get was a leopard. I think she may have had some kind of run-in with it, as with Marco.

"What?" I asked.

Didn't get an answer.

We were quiet and self-kept until we got to the deep jungle exhibit. Cassie led us around back, into the habitat just like she did with the other animals. When we were all sure it was safe, they stripped down to their morphing suits and morphed, Cassie to wolf and Marco to Gorilla. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun. I could tell just by the looks they had on their faces as they morphed.

Once they had finished, the three of us walked cautiously through the place. There were no sounds, which led me to believe they were deeper in the exhibit than we'd thought. If we weren't careful, we'd end up meeting with some people on the viewing side of the netted dome. Not good.

I heard a low growl come from Cassie, along with some thought-speak. ((There's one nearby. It's the Amur leopard. We've got to be careful, these guys are sneaky.))

Before the words even had time to absorb in my mind, the leopard came out from the bushes to our right. Cassie had smelled it, all right, but the leopard wasn't stupid. This was his territory. He knew the ropes. He went straight for Cassie, trying to take her out since he saw her as the biggest threat. I jumped back and watched as Marco dragged himself over toward the beginning fight.

Cassie dove for the leopard's feet, trying to immobilize it.

Big mistake.

The leopard went for her neck, but only got a mouthful of fur, luckily. Marco came up behind it and lifted a milk-jug sized fist upward and tossed it into the leopard's side, causing the large cat to let out a pained howl. Meanwhile, Cassie managed to get it down to the ground, Marco helping to keep it there by grasping its hind legs. The leopard lashed about, trying to free itself. Didn't work too well.

((Hurry!)) Cassie exclaimed. ((Acquire it!))

I stepped forward shakily, my hand slipping forward and toward the camouflage-patterned skin of the leopard. I pressed my fingers against its soft fur, focusing. Soon enough, it fell into the trance, laying limp in their grasps. As weird as it may sound, I could feel the leopard's DNA floating around in my system. Cassie and Marco took the short amount of time that the leopard was calm to demorph, and we ran out of there like bats out of hell.


	4. History Repeats Itself

_**Author's Notes: Same as before. Nothing big in the AN, so just read and review ;)**_

* * *

Marco had to write a paper for English and Cassie needed to help her dad with the Clinic, so I was pretty much left in the dust. That was okay. I had homework I needed to get done too.

I felt like a totally different person. I now had the DNA of over six animals flowing through me, and DNA that no other human besides my new group of friends could ever have. It was really hard to keep from smiling when I went through the front door. Tonight I'd have to test out my owl morph. Maybe go visit one of my friends? Ah, the possibilities.

"You're just in time for dinner." It was my mom. She popped her head around the corner, peering into the main hallway by way of the living room and kitchen's connecting wall's door.

I shook my head, putting on a sick face. I'd eaten a free meal at The Gardens thanks to Cassie and was feeling more than full. Any more food and I might have exploded. "Not feeling all that hot, Mom. I think I'm just gonna go upstairs and take a nap or something."

She looked sort of dejected. I quickly added, "But save me some left-overs." Yes, that was what she wanted to hear. She went back to cooking, and that's when I noticed my brother sitting on the couch with a newspaper. Also a really fancy booklet. I didn't get a chance to read what the title was, but I saw pictures of happy kids and adults. Strange. He was probably looking for a new job in the newspaper. He still hadn't gotten one since the last time I spoke with him. So, I decided to go upstairs to my room and veg out in there.

I threw my bag onto my desk chair when I got upstairs and plopped down on my bed, reaching for the remote that rested on my nightstand. It was a good night to read, but it was also a good night to just watch TV. Homework could wait until later tonight. Or even tomorrow morning. Whenever I felt like moving, actually.

There was nothing interesting on to watch. I took this as a sign. Nothing good to watch, an overly active feeling of procrastination, family just about to sit down to dinner...I could lock my door and morph. No, it was much too risky. Besides, Marco said that it wasn't exactly used for recreation, so I guess that left the nice possibility of testing out my new morphs out.

I went back to watching the uneventful things on TV. If I was going to watch something, it might as well have been something educational or informative. What did that get me? The news.

The first few minutes were boring, that was, until one of the local reporters, Chassidy Smith, was standing in front of the city hospital. I turned up the volume to better hear. She always had stories about far-out things, like people who could dislocate their shoulders and people who raised exotic animals.

"...Doctors have no leads as to the outbreak of these citizens claiming to have been infested by aliens, but many are being cared for--"

I turned off the TV. Infested by aliens? That could only mean one thing. I wondered if any of the others were watching the news as well.

A phone ringing downstairs answered my question. Derrick had brought me the phone. I'd pretended to be asleep.

"Thanks," I groaned out.

He didn't really say anything, just up and left my room, calmly shutting the door behind him. Sort of appreciated that. Privacy was good. Sure enough, Marco was watching the news with his dad.

"So did you see that crazy guy on TV in the background?" he asked nonchalantly, sounding sort of uninterested.

"Yeah, I did," I replied. "What kind of freaks think they're infested by aliens? It's a good thing they're being taken away."

"So do you want to come over and hang out, dude? I'm gonna need some help from you and Jake with my math."

I nodded, even though Marco couldn't see it. "Umm...I'd like to, but I told my mom I wasn't feeling all that hot. So I think I might need to get some meds first before I go."

"Okay. So I'll see you here later then?"

Another nod.

"Later."

Click.

I went downstairs a few minutes afterward and lied to my mom. Told her that one of my friends needed help with his homework, and since it was math I couldn't do it over the phone. No one gave me a cross look or a second glance, so I asked her if I could go help him. She said yes.

And out the door I went, on my way to Marco's.

. . .

Marco answered the door before I could even knock. It was sort of eager, but I understood why. He said they were expecting a pizza. Leave it to Marco to lie about food and get away with it.

He told his dad that he was going to the mall for a while with me and Jake. Normal thing he usually gave as a lie, Marco told me. So when we left, we looked around for a place to morph. We found a safe spot that was hidden from view alongside his house, in the shadows. We stripped down to our morphing outfits and shoved our clothes in a bush.

And within minutes we were a raven and osprey flying freely through the air.

((This is like total deja vu,)) Marco said with a worried voice.

((Mind telling me why?)) Sometimes I think that Marco forgets I wasn't there during all their past missions.

((Well, just a couple of months ago, the Yeerks were going mad and dying from Kandrona starvation...And a select few of the Controllers got out, reeking havoc by exposing the invasion. Lots of people shrugged 'em off and put 'em in these mental hospitals, but I'm curious to see what's going on with the Yeerks...))

((Hmm,)) I responded. That was about all I could think of to say. This whole thing was so much more complex than I thought.

We arrived at Cassie's barn about ten or twenty minutes after we'd left, I wasn't really sure to be truthful. As we landed in the rafters, I saw Cassie giving some medicine to a goose and Jake resting anxiously against a bail of hay. Rachel was there, right in her usual spot. I let out some kind of surprised sound when I noticed Tobias hiding in the dark beside me.

((Scared the crap out of me, Tobias.))

((Sorry dude,)) he said.

Jake looked up at us and tilted his head down. Wanted Marco and I to demorph. So we did just that.

Now that we were all human, with Ax and Tobias as exceptions, we started the little chat about the insane used-to-be Controllers. And Rachel kindly started us off.

"This is history repeating itself, you all know that!" She sounded angry.

((I was inclined to believe that history implied it was in the past, where it stayed forever,)) Ax said with a questioning hint to his speech.

Cassie carefully placed the goose back into its cage, turning to Ax afterward. "Well, people tend to believe that history repeats itself. We've had enough examples to agree with that...The world wars, the mass segregation issues..."

"Luckily most of those repeated earlier on...this way we don't have to worry that it'll happen while we still live." Marco.

"But we don't know if this is some trap by the Yeerks just to lure us in," Rachel stated. That got her a round of looks.

"It's just too weird," Marco muttered. "History repeating itself is _not_ a good thing."

"I know," Jake said. "But the Yeerks would have to be stupid to do something like this. Risk bringing the whole invasion to people's eyes? I don't think so."

Rachel looked sort of upset. I don't think she liked having her idea rejected.

((Seems to me the Yeerks just lost control of a couple of Controllers.)) Tobias seemed to be the only one who really had a basic grasp of what was going on. That was until it hit me.

Those two men Marco and I had seen last night. When I brought the picture back into my head of the news channel, my jaw nearly dropped. I looked at Marco who was already looking at me.

"Those two guys!" we said at the same time.

Everyone looked at us funny.

"Well...Er..." I stumbled over my words. I thought I might get in trouble for using morphing to help me get to sleep.

"Harvey and I saw these two guys yesterday. He was helping me with some history homework and...well...long story short, this guy helped his friend to get the Yeerk out of his head. We didn't catch the whole story, but--"

"But the guy on the news was one of them that we saw," I butted in, solid voice returning.

Jake looked from me to Marco, his eyes turning dark for a moment. It worried me some. "So you two saw Controllers? Were they doing this in public?" I think he was testing to see if we were lying.

"We passed by their house," I semi-lied. "Their front window had blinds shut, but there was a slight opening in it and we saw into their kitchen."

Jake seemed to believe me. When I looked at Marco, he looked terribly relieved. He mouthed "thanks".

((Is it possible that some of your kind is resisting the Yeerks' control?)) Ax asked.

"I highly doubt it," Jake said. "I bet the Yeerk those guys had was close to death of Kandrona starvation."

"Looked like it to me," Marco agreed.

"Same here," I added.

"Then it's settled," Jake said, standing. "We just sit back for the time being, and should any Controllers or used to be Controllers come about again, then we act. Until then, we stay on the down low."

"Sounds good to me," Rachel said. "I've got a test coming up Monday and I haven't studied any for it." She turned her attention to me. "Harvey. You listen in class, don't you? What have we been doing all week?"

I laughed a little. To be honest, I stopped listening a while ago, but I didn't exactly want Rachel annoyed with me. "Yeah, somewhat. I think it's all on the planets and moons. If only they knew what we knew."

"The whole world will know soon enough, I hope." That was Marco. "I'm sort of tired of fighting and ending up right back where we started."

Cassie, who hadn't spoken very much during the whole entire meeting, cleared her throat. It grabbed all of our attention. "I think that the Yeerks might be trying to build another Kandrona pool down in the bowls of the city. And I'm guessing only the higher ranking Yeerks get to use the pool on the visser's Blade Ship. Kind of like before."

((They may possibly have succeeded in building their pool,)) Ax said. ((For all that we know, the Yeerks could already have installed such a pool and are using at this very moment.))

"Let me guess," Marco said, sounding annoyed. "We're going to go down to the Yeerk Pool?"

"We don't know any of the hidden openings," Jake said calmly.

"But someone does," I said with a light smile. "That used to be Controller on the news? His buddy was Yeerk infested in the past, too. I didn't see him on the news, though."

((He could've already been taken to the hospital,)) Tobias said simply. He hadn't spoken much either and it sort of spooked me.

"True," I said, "but it's also possible he hasn't been."

"So what're we going to do?" Jake asked. "We're just gonna go up to the guy's house, knock on his door and ask him if he could lead us to the nearest Yeerk pool entrance?"

"Calm down, Jake," Marco said. "He's just spurting out ideas. He's new."

"Sorry," Jake sighed. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Me either," I said. Marco gave me a curious look, and I tried to hint that I would explain later. Hopefully he got it.

"Well then," Cassie said in a dismissing manner, "we should all get going then, shouldn't we? We'll investigate later. Rachel's got a test, Harvey's got a test, I've got animals to care for, Jake needs sleep, Tobias and Ax probably want to hunt for some dinner and watch TV, respectively, (((Can't miss "These Messages",)) Ax said excitedly) and Marco..." she looked at him with a raised brow. "Let me guess. Makeup paper?"

"You're a mind-reader, Cassie," Marco laughed.

So, each of us dispersed and went off on our own separate ways. But Marco and I morphed, heading back to his house. I couldn't explain walking into my house while wearing a pair of biking shorts and practically paper-thin t-shirt.

While in the air, Marco asked me, ((So what made it a restless night for you?))

((Beside the fact that you talk in your sleep like you talk while you're awake?))

Marco's voice sounded sort of strained when he spoke. ((So...What was I talking about?))

((You shouted out morph and a couple of other weird things,)) I said.

Even more strained now. ((Define weird.))

I was beginning to wonder if he was afraid he'd said something compromising. ((Just things I don't think you'd say when awake. I think you said something about some lady's flowers.))

((I think it was a nightmare,)) he said with a sigh. I suppose he was relieved to hear that he hadn't said anything too important.

((Yeah, just a nightmare, I'd say,)) I confirmed.

We stayed quiet most of the way back to Marco's house. After we'd demorphed in our little safe area and redressed, Marco walked me to the end of the street.

"Thanks for getting Jake off my back," he said quickly.

I blinked. "When?"

"When I was trying to explain about those guys. I think he suspected we morphed."

"Sometimes people like Jake can be easily convinced to think otherwise."

"But Jake's a class of his own," Marco said softly. "He worries about us. All of us."

"I understand. And you're welcome."

There was an awkward pause between us for a few seconds, but I cleared my throat to get rid of it.

"I should get going home. My mom will freak out if I'm not back before night falls."

Marco nodded. He patted my back and squeezed my shoulder. "Thanks again, dude. I'll see you on Monday at school."

I nodded as well, giving a wave before wandering down the street toward my house just a block or two away.

. . .

When I woke up, I had those few seconds of bliss where my brain was unaware of anything in the world around me with the exception for what was straight ahead of me. Didn't last long, though.

I could hear my little sister running down the hallway, shouting something about wanting to go to the mall. I assumed Derrick was already up. Then the idea to look at the clock struck me. It was almost noon.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?" I asked no one.

I wrapped myself in the blanket that rested at the foot of my bed and traveled downstairs. Dad and Derrick were gone, Mom was in the kitchen and I think Jenny had run after her. I made my way into the living room, walking in a half-asleep, half-sick manner. I was definitely not a morning person.

"Oh, you're up!" It was Mom.

"Yeah," I replied groggily.

"Stinks getting sick on weekends!" Jenny said. She was just about finished with seventh grade, about to enter eighth. Her social life was becoming a bigger part of her real life now, and even though she was quite popular, she wasn't snotty. I knew the comment was just that...a comment.

I didn't say anything. Instead I curled up on the couch with my blanket and let out a little cough.

"Jenny dear, your brother isn't sick. He's always like this on Saturday mornings. It's because you stay up so late on the computer!"

I shook my head. The past few days I hadn't exactly been on the computer, but what had happened to my life would probably be quite comparative to that of a computer game.

I decided to change the subject. "So are you guys going out?"

Jenny flipped her hair behind her and stood beside my mom, just about at her shoulders when she wasn't wearing heels. "Yeah, we are. Mom's taking me to the mall so I can get my ears pierced again."

"Have fun, then," I said with a yawn.

"You too. Your dad took Derrick to his office for an interview. He might even be working there!" My mom seemed to swell with pride at the thought.

"So I'll have the house to myself?" I asked.

She nodded. "After we get Jenny's ears done, I'm running some errands. We'll all be back by dinner time."

The thought of actually having the house to myself for a time longer than a half hour was enticing. I didn't even know where to begin in thinking what I would do.

I waved to them as they left, watching them slam the door as they exited.

"Whoo-hoo!" I shouted for no real reason.

The first thing I did was take a shower. After I was nice and clean, I made myself a champion's breakfast: cereal with toast and juice. Oh yeah, that was the ticket. With an excessively full stomach I made my way upstairs and grabbed my notebook. I had some studying to do...I'd totally forgotten about the test that was in my science class. If Rachel hadn't reminded me, I probably would've had a heart attack in the middle of class when I tried to answer one of the questions.

The sun was flooding into the living room bay window, so I sat in there and let the warm rays be my light. I'd probably read the whole chapter within a half-hour. I knew I didn't _read _read it though, considering I was just an average speed-reader. I sort of skimmed it. Picked up the facts I assumed would be the most important. Things like the size of the planets and their atmospheres, their orbits and moons...All that good stuff.

I nearly fell out of the window when I heard the phone rang. I was content and peaceful with just staring out the window and up at the mountains in the distance. When I answered it, I reacted just like I normally did.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Harvey. It's Rachel."

Wow. She sounded much different on the phone. Like the idiot I was, though, the first thing that came out of my mouth was, "How did you get my number?"

She didn't sound distressed or worried. Not even annoyed or upset. This could have very well been a normal call. "Got it from Jake who got it from Marco. Hey listen, I needed to ask you something."

I froze. The first thing that popped into my head was that she was going to tell me that I was going to need to go to them into the Yeerk pool. But she didn't.

"So what's gonna be on the test?"

I sighed in relief. After a short pause, I answered the best I could. "Honestly don't know. Just go through the book and look at the bolded words. That and the headings. But my best guess would be the planets' orbits, moons and atmospheres. That's what I'm studying."

"Thanks a bunch," she said happily. "After my last gymnastics meet I was so beat I couldn't think straight." I knew that 'gymnastics meet' meant the last battle they were all in.

"I know the feeling," I laughed. A lie, of course.

"So I'll see you in class on Monday," she said.

I agreed.

Click.

I put the phone back on the hook and went back to my little perch in the bay window, staring up at the mountain again. I was sort of pumped with adrenaline now. I guess it was the way I was going to live from now on...Constantly dodgy feeling, paranoid, worried. I wasn't so sure I liked it that much. Living in fear of the fact that I could die the very next day? But Marco told me that when you change morphs, it repairs the DNA. So I guess I could handle it. As long as I could demorph fast enough.

Jake wouldn't exactly have to know I'd practiced morphing. And no one was home. Perfect.

I went around the house and shut all the blinds. Once I was absolutely sure they were closed, I went around and locked all the doors and windows. Then I returned to the living room. I closed my eyes and focused on the leopard morph that was inside my head.

Now, morphing, as I've been told and experienced, is not logical. The only one who seems to be able to even remotely control what happens is Cassie. Even Ax had difficulties forming things properly when he turned human. So I wasn't terribly surprised when I felt the long, silky tail of the leopard shoot from my tailbone.

That didn't mean it wasn't still scary.

Then, shortly after the tail sprouted, I felt my insides shifting. There were strange squishing sounds as I felt my human organs change shape or disappear altogether. A new sensation soon filled my body after that: the powerful and well adapted muscles of the leopard. When I looked down at my hands and arms, I saw my skin faintly fill with the beautiful design of the leopard's fur, moving from bare pastel to vibrant colors, and soon enough to real fur.

I fell forward when my spine shifted. Now on all fours, I could feel my bones cracking and elongating or shrinking, accompanying the muscles that surrounded them. My mouth shifted around, making me feel slightly uncomfortable. The incisors grew rapidly while all my other teeth changed to accompany the dental design capable of ripping the heart out of a creature's body.

Pop! Pop!

I felt my ears pop and form the triangular cat-like shaped ears from my circular human ones, each slowly shifting further up my head. My nose, at least from what I could see, was turning into the majestic muzzle of the leopard, my nose moistening some. My eyes went from being what I used to believe was great vision to the beyond description vision of the leopard.

It was amazing! I could see all sorts of things. Every movement, every tiny detail. And my ears? I could've probably heard a pin drop from a mile away.

My hands and feet, however illogical it may sound, were the last to transform. I looked down at them with my god-like sight and watched as my human hands, covered in fur mind you, changed into the large paws of the cat family. My fingernails grew over my fingers and my thumb melted together with my hand to form the claws, all the while they were being covered by prenhensile muscles that could both retract and extend those dangerous nails of death. I could kill a human with just one swipe of these things.

Finally the morph had finished. I was one of the most powerful predators of the rain forests. I was to be both feared and revered for my strength. But when the leopard mind and instincts arrived, I had almost no problem controlling them. There was a need to hunt, and a need to feed. I felt no fear. I felt almost no worry. I was able to climb up a tree in less than seconds, escaping danger from those predators stronger than myself, which were few. I had enough stamina to keep up a strong fight. If anything, the only real issue in hand here was its confidence. It was sort of clouding my mind and making me overly arrogant. Like I had nothing to be afraid of. My human half knew better.

I stayed in my morph and walked around, hoping to get used to the form of the large cat. I did just that, too. Made my way through the kitchen, around the island and toward the living room once again. I traveled up the stairs, each of them creaking lightly beneath my padded feet. I moved with the liquid grace only a feline could, jumping on my bed. I felt the mattress sink inward to host my weight.

I'd been in morph for about ten minutes before I changed back. I pondered morphing the cockroach or the fly, but I figured their instincts were too light to care that much about them. The owl wouldn't be too difficult, and I would have to be dumb to try and morph the orca whale or the dolphin. There was the wolf morph, but I didn't want to morph again. I was feeling too lazy.

I curled back up on the couch and flipped on the TV, frowning some when I noticed there wasn't that much on. I never really noticed before because I was usually hanging out with Randy or Aaron. TV didn't hold my interest like it did with most other teenagers.

I hadn't noticed, but I began to feel sleepy soon after flipping past the Discovery channel. My eyes slowly shut as I continued to skim the channels, and before I knew it I was out like a light.


	5. Far From Joking

_**Author's Notes: R&R :D**_

* * *

I woke up to the sound of the Iron Chef screaming something about Miso Soup and Onigiri, whatever that was. My eyes fluttered open and I let out a loud yawn.

"Nice nap," I commented. I figured no one was home yet since I heard no response.

I heard the phone ring. That damned phone was really getting on my nerves.

"Hello?" I said, sounding a little bit more annoyed than I had intended.

"Wow, did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

"Oh, it's you, Marco."

He laughed. "Just me, yeah."

"So what's up?"

His tone took a different tone now. "You know that homework I was working on that you helped me with? Well, I tried to do _another_ assignment, but I failed terribly. Think you can help me with it?"

I paused. I figured he was talking about finding the guy who knew the Yeerk pool entrance, but it was sort of possible that he was talking about just the regular assignment. Either way, I'd have to go over to his house.

"Yeah, I can. I'll be over there in a little while. I need to get dressed and stuff."

"Nearly two in the afternoon and you're not dressed yet?" He tutted. "That's terrible."

I laughed. "Yeah, well, I'll be over there later."

"See ya then."

"Later."

Click.

I dressed quickly after I hung up the phone. After I'd brushed my teeth and partially combed my hair, I went into the kitchen, scribbled a note and put it on the fridge for my mom. When I was sure I'd locked the door behind me, I made my way to Marco's house in a hasty walk.

When I arrived, I knocked on his door like I usually did. And, like Marco usually did, he answered it.

"Come on in."

We went down the hallway and into his room. Marco shut the door behind me rather quickly and gave me a strange look.

"One of the guys that we saw the other night was killed. He was in the newspaper this morning, in his obituary."

My heart sank. Our only hope of finding a possible way into the Yeerk Pool, dead.

"And now that they've got those Bio filter things in there, it won't allow anything but humans, Hork-Bajir, Taxxons and Yeerks through. We'd be fried up." He took a seat beside me on his bed.

"Does Jake know yet?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I couldn't get a hold of him. You were the next person in line."

"Well," I said, sort of ignoring what Marco had said, "we should try to get a hold of him. Or any of the others. Didn't you say something about the Chee? Couldn't they help us?"

"I think they could, but Erik hasn't been around lately. I don't know where he is." He sighed.

"None of this makes sense," I said with frustration. "First that dude with his friend infested, then he's on the news the next day. Soon after one gets sent to the mental hospital and the other one killed. I bet you the Yeerks are trying real hard to cover their tracks."

Marco nodded. "They always do. We only catch onto them every so often." His eyes shifted around the room and he sighed again, pulling his legs onto the bed. "Do you think you'll be ready for your first battle?"

I turned to him and raised a brow. His question made me think about the morphing I'd done just a couple hours ago. "I think I'll be alright."

Marco fixed his eyes on me, suddenly looking quite sullen. "I sort of wish we all had gone through some practice class first before we had to take this on. You're lucky to have people to guide you through it."

"I can imagine it wasn't all that fun in the beginning."

"No," he said sharply, "it wasn't. I didn't ask for this life. I even told Jake we should have gone the longer way. But he didn't listen. He's still my best friend, but he's not like he used to be. I worry."

I was slightly surprised at how open Marco was being. I knew we were friends, but...I didn't expect him to spill things on me like this. Maybe he was just tired of the whole situation.

"Now I'm stuck fighting Yeerks and trying to save my mom from being under the control of Visser One." When I gave him a weird look, he explained it to me. "My mom is the human body of the highest ranking visser in the Yeerk Empire. Long story I really don't feel like describing it."

"That's okay. You don't have to."

He smiled some. "Thanks for listening. Everyone just kind of discards what I say unless it's a serious battle plan. I think it's the whole 'Marco is the joker' issue. I know that they don't like hearing what I have to say most of the time." Giving me a wink, he laughed. "But there are times when sarcastic comments are the best thing to add."

I laughed a little. He was right about that; I usually offered my bit even if people didn't want to hear it. I felt a light lump forming in my throat when I noticed he'd scooted somewhat closer.

"Do you think Jake would be home now?" I asked quickly.

He gave me a bit of a shrug. "I don't know. Jake sometimes chooses to be unreachable. It's because he's trying to talk with Cassie. I find it funny."

After a few minutes of silence and the both of us looking around the room, Marco cleared his throat. I couldn't help but look in his direction.

"To be honest, I kind of asked you to come over for more than just...homework help."

My heart began to beat a little faster. I tried to ignore it. "Did you need help with the actual homework?"

I swear he was blushing. It was just a light pink, bright against his partially tan skin. "Umm...Not exactly."

"Then what is it?"

He tore his eyes away from mine, looking down at his legs. "Have you ever known someone for a while, kinda took 'em for granted?"

I shook my head. "I usually don't."

His blush sort of reddened. "Well...I have. With you." Marco's eyes raised upward, dark eyes meeting my own dark ones. "And I kinda wanted to apologize."

"I appreciate that," I said. "But I don't think that's exactly why you asked me here."

He looked away and laughed softly. "Wow, right to the point, aren't we?"

"I was just curious. I tend to be like that." I noticed Marco moving just a little bit closer. I suppose he thought he was being sneaky about it.

But then something happened I hadn't expected. His hand moved over mind and grasped a hold of it. I looked at him, he looked at me, and at that moment we both fell silent. I didn't pull back. I suppose he hadn't really expected that.

"You're...not pulling away," he commented in slight disbelief.

My voice seemed to escape me for a minute.

"And you're not saying anything, either," he joked lightly.

I cleared my throat loudly. "My throat seized up on me for a minute there. But yeah, I'm not pulling away."

He still looked somewhat surprised. "C-Can I ask why?"

"Well, I think you owe me a little explanation as to why you grasped it in the first place." I felt really weird acting like an interrogator, but I was curious to see why Marco had done what he did.

"It's kind of crazy. It makes no sense, either. But that's why I trust it so much."

"Trust what?"

"My emotions. I know what I'm feeling might be weird, but...I can't ignore them. I've tried for too long. Bottling them up only made them stronger."

"Are you sure they're for me?" I asked.

He nodded slowly. I knew that my heart was probably beating maniacally by now, but it was nothing compared to how my brain felt. It was swimming. A weird habit of mine had always been shifting things to my favor. Was this actually Marco's feelings, or was some kind of strange thing above causing him to feel this way just so I was happy?

I decided the latter was a stupid idea, considering that it was a selfish act and that the people above wouldn't do such a thing. But I was still surprised. We both were.

He moved closer and I let him. The weird thing was, even though I knew that he was attempting to be one of the big womanizers of the school, he was never marked as a liar or a fraud. This was genuine. Maybe he was more complex than I thought.

"This changes things," I said in a low voice.

"Greatly. But...I can understand if you--"

"Oh no, no. That's not what I meant. I'm just saying."

"Oh. Well, I can't help it if it changes things. I...I had to tell you. It isn't in my nature to keep everything inside."

"Two questions: How long has it been since you...felt this way, and why did you keep it locked inside if it isn't your nature?"

Marco sighed and looked away. "To answer the first one...I guess it was a few months after I met you. And the second...I think I was afraid of unreciprocated feelings."

I squeezed his hand gently, and to my surprise he squeezed back. "Well, they're obviously reciprocated now, right?"

He lifted his head upward and looked up at me, a faint smile flickering over his face. "Well yeah, now they are. But there was no way for me to tell."

"Guess being an Animorph makes you see the world differently, doesn't it?"

With a light laugh, Marco nodded. "I guess another reason I was afraid to say anything, and I hate using the word afraid but it's the only one I can really think of to use, was because that I wasn't sure you were a Controller or not. Now that we know for sure...Since you're an Animorph and all, and you obviously don't need Kandrona Rays..."

We sat there, bodies extremely close to one another for a few minutes. I rubbed my thumb over the space between his thumb and middle finger, staring into his eyes. I know it would be corny to say that it felt like time was going by slowly, but it really was. Plus, since neither of us said anything, the time passed by even slower.

I really wondered what the others would think if they found out...and just how badly this was going to affect the missions. I don't know if I could handle seeing Marco get hurt. I was a very protective person by nature, but not many people knew that. It was a little piece of information I chose to keep private.

"This shouldn't affect the missions too badly. I mean...If Jake can send Cassie to missions of possible death and still have a relationship with her, and Tobias and Rachel can deal with seeing each other get hurt, I think we can handle it."

"I should hope so. Otherwise all those morphs we spent all that time getting would be wastes of time."

We both laughed. Our faces grew partially closer to one another, and before I knew it, I'd removed the space between them and pressed my lips to his. They were surprisingly soft. I had expected Marco to have slightly rough lips since he often chewed on them. It intrigued me.

I pulled back and so did he, our eyes locking in a gaze that seemed to have been impossible to break. We both squeezed the other's hand, slowly letting go.

"I was...kind of wondering what that would be like," he admitted sheepishly, breaking the locked gaze.

I felt the heat rising in my cheeks and I knew instantly I was blushing. I had to concur...I was wondering what the first kiss was going to be like. It wasn't like I had imagined it.

It was three times as good.

When I came out of my little mental chat with myself, I noticed Marco was blushing just about the same as I was. I told him that I thought it was cute, only to have him award with me with an even darker blush. When I attempted to comment again, he nudged me playfully and turned away.

"You're gonna gave to get used to it, you know," I said softly.

"Yeah, well, it'll take a while. Sincere compliments usually don't flow my way often."

"I'm surprised. You deserve a lot of them."

Even though he was turned away I could tell he was blushing still. "Shh! You're going to make my face burst in flames."

I decided it was best if I just stopped, considering he was sort of getting annoyed with his glowing face. I scooted away from him and stretched, a yawn following.

Marco turned to me and then laughed some. I looked at him curiously.

"Your stomach shows when you lift your arms up. You need to get some longer shirts," he pointed out.

I pouted some, smirking afterward. "So you don't want to see my stomach?"

"Not just yet. We'll wait."

"That I can handle."

Both of us froze when we heard a knock on the door. Marco's dad came in a moment later with the phone in his hand, extended toward his son.

"Marco, Jake's on the phone."

We looked at each other before Marco stood up and grabbed the phone. After his dad left and shut the door behind him, Marco placed the phone between both of our ears so I could hear Jake also.

"Jake, what's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to come over, Marco. I've got some Spanish homework I need your help on."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Funny, Jake. You know my Spanish is horrible. But I'll see what I can do."

"Why don't you bring Harvey? I heard he's alright in Spanish."

Marco glanced over in my direction and I nodded. I was good with languages. Returning to the phone, Marco said, "Yeak okay, I'll bring him over. Your house?"

"Actually, Cassie's. She was helping me with some of our science homework."

"Okay then. Be over there later. See you soon."

Click.

"Guess he decided to get a hold of me," Marco chuckled.

"I guess so. Wonder if he saw the obituaries this morning."

"He might have."

"So then, let's go."

. . .

I'd chosen to morph my raven and Marco had chosen his osprey. We'd made it to Cassie's in less time than it took us last time. It was probably due to the fact that I was used to flying now. As used to it as a human could be.

We landed in the barn and demorphed, putting on the clothes that we had hidden there. Just one of the many extra sets of clothing we'd stashed everywhere and anywhere.

We walked up to Cassie's front door and knocked, greeted by none other than she herself. She led us to the kitchen, where Jake was. After the normal greetings and things of the like, we took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

"My parents are at The Gardens for the day. The staff's short because of people taking all their vacation time."

"That's good to hear," Marco said. "I think I like meeting in your house instead of the barn."

I looked over the table. There was actually a science book and Spanish book out, but only one sheet of paper. I guessed it was just to give a false sense of studying when in all reality they were just talking. Jake and Cassie hardly ever got time to do that.

I felt Marco's leg brush up against mine underneath the table as I shifted to get comfortable in the chair. It was one of those proper posture chairs with the bump in the middle to keep you from slouching. I didn't like it much.

"So I guess you guys didn't call us over here for real homework?" Marco asked bluntly.

"You're right there," Jake said.

Cassie poured us some soda and passed out the glasses. "We were wondering if either of you saw the paper this morning?"

We both nodded.

"So you know our Yeerk Pool man is dead," Jake sighed. "This isn't good. Our only other way to find out what's happening is to talk to the guy in the mental hospital."

"Pfft! I'm not going in there," Marco said. "I don't want to think about that. We'll probably end up in there one day. We don't need that."

"You're right, Marco," Cassie said calmly, "we don't. But there's really no other way."

"Why don't we just go into that new McDonalds they built?" he whined.

"Because they probably changed the password," Jake said.

I felt like some sort of spectator then and there. They were talking as if my presence wasn't real, which didn't bother me much. I was finding out a lot of new things.

The doorbell rang. It was Rachel. Cassie had left the kitchen and came back a few seconds later with her.

"Hello, Rachel," Jake said.

"Hey," she said with a yawn, leaning against the counter.

"We're just missing Ax and Tobias," Jake commented.

((If you would be so kind as to open the back door, then we would be inside.)) It was Ax.

Cassie did as he suggested and in walked Ax and Tobias. In human morphs, of course.

"Cassie told us that you guys were meeting, and she told us to come up a little later," Tobias explained as he took a seat on the counter.

"That is correct," Ax agreed. "Reck-tuh. Ko-reck-tuh." He had entirely too much fun with human voice sounds.

"Our only lead to finding out what's happening died yesterday," Jake stated rather abruptly. Everyone, discluding Marco, Cassie and myself, looked at him.

"That's just perfect," Rachel grumbled.

"There's only two choices that we have so far. One we know isn't going to work, which would be to visit the man in the hospital, and the other is to wait."

"Waiting?" Tobias asked. "We sure do a lot of that."

"But we've got reasons for waiting. Another Controller break out is what we need."

"We'll all go crazy waiting," Marco commented. "The Yeerks are trying to keep it all secret. They're hiding something."

Rachel tutted and looked at Marco before shaking her head. "Some of us too, I think."

"And just what does that mean?" he asked defensively.

Smirking faintly, Rachel shrugged and looked away. "Oh nothing. It isn't important."

Marco and I looked at one another before Jake cleared his throat warningly. "So we're just gonna sweat it out and see if another Controller loses it. If they do, we'll bring 'em in and figure out what's going on. We'll need an Andalite to do it, though. That means either Tobias or Ax will have to do it."

"I do not know if I will be able to do that again after what happened before," Ax said. "It was very uncomfortable. For-table. Taaaable."

"I guess that means I have to do it," Tobias said worriedly.

"Let's just hope the next stupid Yeerk-go-crazy issue doesn't come up again for a while," Marco said.

Jake nodded and placed his hands on the table. "Yeah. Anyway. Cassie and I have some more science work to get finished."

"You sure it's actual work, Jake? Or is this just a clever ruse to get us to leave?" Marco chuckled some and nudged Cassie, who was standing beside him, in the side. Her cheeks turned pink and she began to clean up the kitchen.

"Which way will get you out of here fastest?" Jake joked.

Marco rolled his eyes in a playful manner. "Oh alright, Jake. Jeez. If you wanted some smooch time, why did you invite us over in the first place?"


	6. Good and Bad News

_**Author's Notes: R&R as always :D**_

* * *

Marco and I had left together, heading to the mall for no real reason. I suppose it was because we had nothing else to do. We'd walked, and the trip was a little bit more silent than I had expected.

When we walked through the doors, Marco turned to me and sighed some. "What do you think Rachel meant when she said some of us were hiding something? Did you notice her looking in our direction?"

I blinked some. That had been totally out of the blue and I wasn't expecting it. Now it was all I could think about. "No, I didn't, and I don't know what she meant. Rachel's hard to read."

"I'm sort of worried she knows something about...You know."

"She doesn't. It just happened today so stop worrying, hm? Let's just go get something to eat."

Marco just nodded with a light sigh. I knew he was worried, and now I was too. But I didn't know Rachel like he did. There was something missing in my data banks that he had in his. I just felt...weird.

We went up to the food court, walking aimlessly. Although our original intention may have been to get something to eat, it changed. Neither of us were that hungry. We went right on past all the small business franchises and continued following the path, arriving at the bookstore. That might have been something to get our minds off of the whole Rachel deal, but neither of us felt brave enough to suggest it to the other.

After a few more minutes of mindless wandering, Marco grabbed my arm and looked at me. "Can we just go back to my house? I don't like being in public when I think. Too many things to distract me."

"Malls are designed to distract," I joked. He laughed. I continued on. "But yeah, if you want to go back, we can. Although I thought we came to the mall to have fun?"

He casually dragged me down the long hallway to our right which was where the elevator was located. When he was sure no one was looking, he placed a soft kiss on my lips with a smirk. "We can have fun there, too."

"That's fine with me," I said, feeling slightly dazed. It was only our second kiss, and it made my cheeks turn red.

He looked down at his watch. "The bus will be running down this way in a few minutes. We'd better hurry."

So we took the elevator downstairs and wandered out of the mall, making our way to the bus stop.

"Isn't your dad gonna be home?" I asked.

Marco threw that thought aside. "Nah, he's got a date tonight. That means we'll have the house to ourselves for the evening."

The idea sent a tingle up my spine. Us, alone? In the house? Hmm. Nice.

"Sounds cool."

He nodded. The both of us stayed silent until the bus came and picked us up. Once we'd gotten on the bus, we took our seat and waited until we arrived at the stop nearest Marco's house.

Which, as surprising as it was, didn't take that long. We payed the bus driver and walked down the street. Marco's house was just about a block away.

I noticed that we were walking rather close to one another, our hands bumping together every once in a while. I finally took the initiative to grasp a hold of his, and when I looked over at him he was smiling. I think that was what he wanted. I squeezed his gently and he squeezed back.

. . .

It was somewhere around dusk that we actually made it to his house. Neither of us seemed to care about the whole issue with Rachel and her words, nor did we worry about having to wait for the next Controller breakout. The only thing we were really concerned with was the fact that Marco had forgotten his house keys.

"Damn it," he said quietly.

"Don't you have a spare key hanging around somewhere? Like under your mat or hidden in the bush?"

He shook his head. "Not that I know of. I usually don't forget my keys."

"Well, I guess we have to look for an open window then, don't we?" I stepped back and looked over the house, sighing just a little.

"I usually leave mine open. Or at least enough just in case I get back late at night and I forgot my keys."

It turned out one of the windows had been left open. Once that problem had been solved, Marco went around and cleaned up a bit while I called my mom. She said I was welcome to stay over there if it was okay with Marco's dad. Marco pretended to be him and convinced my mom, so everything was set.

When everything was finally out of the way, the two of us took root on the couch, Marco leaning comfortably against me. I let my arm wrap around his slightly smaller frame and smiled down at him.

"How long will your dad be out?"

Marco shrugged faintly. "Could be hours. Or, if he hits it off really well, until tomorrow. Either way we'll hear him when he gets here. He makes lots of noise."

I laughed softly. Marco did as well, using my shoulder as a headrest as we watched some TV.

After about five to ten minutes into "Mad-TV", Marco twisted his form some so he could look up at me. I looked down at him with a slightly raised brow.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just sort of curious as to how you stay so warm is all. I'm usually really cold." He smiled a little and went back to watching the guest singers, as I did. I felt a slightly tighter grip on my arm a few seconds later and I smiled lightly.

When the show ended, I tried to get up. I had to go the bathroom. But I found that Marco had fallen asleep. He was snoring a little, the breath passing in and out of his mouth. I didn't have the heart to wake him up, but if I didn't get up and go I thought I might just burst. So, I very gently attempted to pull my arm free. I was successful too, luckily. As I stood, he fell toward the couch.

I came back a minute or two later, noticing that Marco had woken up. He was cuddling a pillow and was sprawled over the couch. Upon my return on the couch he sat up and yawned a little.

"Welcome back," he said sleepily. "When did I fall asleep?"

I shrugged. "I think about ten minutes ago. I went up to go to the bathroom."

"Oh," he said. "Well, that's okay. I thought you'd gone home or something."

"Negative thinking isn't good, you know," I said with a chuckle.

He nodded and then yawned again, flipping his position so his feet were where his head was and his head was against my shoulder again. I think I was his pillow or something. I was just about to kiss the top of his forehead when someone knocked on the door, sending us both to the floor in surprise.

"C-Coming!" Marco stuttered out.

"It's Rachel and Jake." Muffled through the door.

I hurried to my feet and plopped on the couch, nonchalantly glancing over in the door's direction as Marco opened it for them. When they stepped inside, Jake looked around quickly.

"Your dad here?"

Marco shook his head. Jake grasped his arm and pulled him over in my direction, Rachel following. He looked eager.

"I had gone home and I heard Tom on the phone. My parents went out for dinner and he hadn't expected me home. He must've been up in his room because he didn't hear me come in. On my way up the stairs, I heard him yelling at someone over the phone. They were discussing what's been going on."

"And?" Marco asked quickly, interested.

Before Jake could say anything, Rachel cut him off and explained it to us. "The Yeerks have found out about the Yeerk resistance movement. One of those Yeerks' Controllers started raving about it when his Yeerk was in the pool. Now, instead of interrogating them and finding out about the movement right away, Visser Three's decided to deny them entry to the Yeerk Pool. I'm assuming that, when they're nearly dead, he's going to interrogate them then. He got almost all their names from that one stupid Controller..."

"So what's it matter?" Marco said coldly. "The Yeerks are Yeerks. Even the ones who are in the movement still have hosts. It's hypocrisy."

I was somewhat confused. "But wait. What's he gonna do with them afterward?"

"That's what we're going down there to figure out," Jake said calmly.

"Wait! We're not going down there to help those Yeerks!" Marco wasn't too happy with this decision obviously, but I was still new and oblivious to it all. I didn't understand.

"We're not going down to help, per-say..." Rachel said. "Just to find out what's going on."

"Why don't we just ask Erik to do it?"

"We don't need him, Marco. We can't rely on the Chee to do everything for us. But I've got an idea. I came over here to get you and Harvey. We're going back to Cassie's."

"We'd need to morph," I said.

"Obviously," Marco grumbled. It was easy to see he was upset with Jake for ruining our evening together, but it was inevitable. Something had managed to interrupt us almost each time.

"The faster we get to it, the faster we can be done with it," Jake said.

"Let's do it!" Rachel said.

Marco rolled his eyes, stripping down to his morphing clothing just like I was doing, as were Jake and Rachel. "Easy for you to say."

And in a few minutes we were in the air.

. . .

We met up in Cassie's barn. Tobias and Ax were already there; I assumed Jake had called Cassie to go find them or something. All I knew was that this was my first mission.

And I was beyond nervous.

I took a seat on a bail of hay beside Marco and Rachel, watching Jake pace back and forth down the center of the barn.

"Now that everyone's here," he began, "I can explain our plan."

"It better be a mighty damn good one, Jake, if you expect us all to go down to the Yeerk Complex again," Marco commented sharply.

Turning his attention to his best friend, Jake gave Marco a grin. It wasn't often he grinned, so it sort of surprised us. "It's a great plan. I thought it out on the way here. But...It requires patience and above all, obedience." He stopped pacing and stood in the center of the group. "I need you all to listen to me and not doubt what I say. It's the perfect infiltration idea."

That got a wary look from all of us. Rachel, however, seemed less worried about what the idea was. "So come on, tell us!"

"Well, it goes like this." Jake leaned against one of the stalls, folding his arms over his chest. "We need to get in through the Bio-Filter, right? And all it accepts are Humans, Yeerks, Hork-Bajir, and Taxxons. Now..." He eyed Cassie before continuing on, "The Bio-Filter can't detect life forms that are so small they're nearly invisible. We know this because of the whole 'cow-fly' issue. So, this is how it goes."

Marco gave me a strange look before crossing his arms over his chest, huffing some. I could tell he really didn't want to go down there. I just let it pass, considering I wasn't a veteran here.

Jake gently grasped a hold of Cassie's hand, squeezing it with a light sigh. "I need you to morph your Yeerk form."

She blinked. I don't think any of us had expected that. But she knew things about Jake that we didn't, and I doubt she wouldn't listen to him. "Can we explain why first?"

"This is where it gets confusing," Jake said grimly. "I need you to...infest someone."

Everyone placed their eyes on Jake.

((No good can come from infesting someone,)) Ax said calmly, holding back the distaste he obviously held for the idea. ((And I must admit, I do not support this decision.))

"That's...Fine, Ax. I wasn't going to ask you to do it. In fact..."

The pause was enough for me to know where Jake was leading with this. And everybody else seemed to know too.

"You want me to do it?" I choked out. "Be the one who gets infested by a Yeerk?"

Marco exploded. He wasn't happy. "You want to infest our new member with a Yeerk! What's up with you, Jake? I thought we said we were never going to have Cassie use that morph again! It was...it was...I..."

"Jeez, calm down, Marco," Rachel said. "It's not like Harvey's gonna die or something. You have to remember, it's Cassie. It's not just a Yeerk." She motioned for Jake to speak again. "I want to see where he's going with this."

Jake nodded. "Thanks, Rachel. Anyway. This is how I see it: Cassie morphs Yeerks and infests Harvey. The only reason I'm having her do so is so that Harvey can pass through the Bio-Filter safely. Cassie can just...be there. She doesn't have to have control over his brain or anything. It's just that...The rest of us are going to morph either fleas or flies and crawl up Harvey's nose. The Yeerks don't know who Harvey is, and I'm guessing they don't tally up all of their Controllers. So, this way we can get in without having to worry about being found out. And...If worst comes to worst, we'll have to do lots of acting."

"Does that mean I'm actually going to need to drop myself in the Yeerk Pool?" Cassie asked. She sounded sort of worried.

Jake sighed. "Well, if the need to do so comes along. Which it probably will. And that means Harvey needs to act like a mad-man when they let him go." It seemed to me that the idea sounded good to him until he had decided to tell the rest of us.

((I say we do it,)) Tobias said. He'd been quiet most of the time we'd been here. I assumed it was because he listened more than he said. Did he not think his opinion was worth anything? I didn't know. ((We could find out a lot and I'm kind of surprised we didn't think of doing it before.))

((We didn't do it before because we risked our identities,)) Ax explained. ((Should the wrong Yeerk enter Harvey's head...))

"This is a stupidly dangerous mission," Marco commented bluntly.

"That's what makes it such a good idea," Rachel said with a smirk. "I say we do it."

Jake looked at Cassie. She nodded. Up at Tobias. He gave his okay to the idea. I was up for it, however nerve-wracking the idea itself actually was. After a few seconds of staring, Ax was up for it too. That left just Marco.

Finally, after I told him I'd be okay and that, should the problem arise I could always morph and escape, Marco agreed to it.

"I think he should acquire Ax first, though. Or...Maybe acquire a mix of each of us like Ax did the first time. That way he can look like a different person when he goes in and goes out."

"First good idea you've come up with for a while, Marco," Rachel joked. He relished in the thought.

"So then," Jake said. "We're off soon."

We all nodded. After we'd confirmed the idea, Jake and Marco figured it best I acquired the both of them and made a mix of their DNA. I didn't know how to do it, so Ax had to explain it to me, which was confusing, honestly. But after a thorough run-through of the concept, I tried it. Jake and Marco stuck their hands out and I grabbed a hold of both of them, shutting my eyes and focusing on acquiring them.

I felt sort of weird acquiring my friends. They went into the trance, their eyes sort of closing and the both of them moving to rest against the bails of hay nearby.

There was a strange emotion flowing through my system as I moved back, pulling my hand up to my body. I now had the DNA of Jake and Marco flowing through my system. The second part of the acquiring process was even stranger, as it was the part where I actually had to morph the both of them.

((Think of them both,)) Ax stated. ((And the morphing will take place. But you must be patient because it is a difficult process. I don't know if a human will be able to do it.)) Arrogance. I heard from Marco that Andalites are sort of arrogant like that.

I closed my eyes and focused on Marco and Jake's faces. The strange thing that happened was that they melted together. I felt the changes begin, much more subtle than the changes to an animal.

My skin changed to a light olive color, my own slightly tan skin and Marco's tanned skin mixing in with Jake's somewhat pale skin. My eyes, shifting from their original green, hazel-ish color to a brown shade. My hair stayed the same color but grew just a little, reaching the beginning part of my irises.

I was taller than Marco but somewhat shorter than Jake, so when I felt my legs stretch and bulk out just a bit, I wasn't surprised. But what did surprise me was the way I could see my nose shifting to grow slightly smaller, and I felt my feet curling up against the tip of my shoes. My arms bulked up just a little and grew somewhat as well, and the last thing to change was sort of...weird to say.

I felt an abnormally large...change in my pants. And it wasn't expected. It really weirded me out and I didn't know how to react to it. I just assumed that this would work out and I'd be perfectly okay.

My eyes widened and I could feel that the morph was complete. Along with the morph, of course, came their minds. But they were mixed together and I could deal with human emotions. What I couldn't understand, though, was this...feeling of courage I had. I was normally an okay person when it came to doing things with courage, but I felt...safe. Like I was able to take on the world and not have to worry about anything. Strange, really.

"It's done," I said. And I surprised myself. My voice was all...I didn't know how to explain it. The others noticed the change, though.

"Dude, we thought it was weird when Ax morphed us. Without Rachel and Cassie, that's what he'd look like." Marco began to laugh. "Aw, Jake, look. If we had kids, Harvey here would be the result."

We all laughed. It was a funny joke, but nonetheless true. I was a perfect mix of Marco and Jake.

"He's...oddly attractive," Rachel said. "This is weird. My cousin and his best friend? Yeech. Freaky."

We all laughed again. I felt really weird, though...being in this body and all. It wasn't mine.

"So, let's get going," Jake said.

And that's when our plan went into affect.

I demorphed back to myself so that the time limit wasn't short after all the morphing that was going to go on. Jake, Marco, Rachel, Ax and Tobias morphed first to fleas, and I reached down so they could find my hand. Once they did so, I placed them in my hair. Ax reminded us we had a short amount of time to do this.

Cassie morphed. This was when the plan went in to deep effect. It wasn't exactly something I was looking forward to, but I needed to do it. We needed to get down their safely.

((Stick me next to your ear,)) Cassie said.

So I did just that. I could feel her antennae wriggling around, groping to find the entrance. When she did, I let out a light cry of pain. She'd penetrated my outer ear, and just a few seconds later, the pain numbed. She had secreted some kind of goo to make the pain slide away. It now felt kind of like surgery under anesthesia. Weird comparison, I know, but it was how it felt. Like the pain should be there but it wasn't.

I felt Cassie spreading out and pressing herself into the wrinkles of my brain. I expected to lose control of myself and all of my thoughts, but I didn't. Cassie had control of herself and herself only.

((I remember having Karen in my head,)) Cassie said to me softly.

((Did she control you when you morphed?)) I asked.

((She took control of my whole body. I couldn't even do anything. And yes, she controlled my morphs. It was the reason I told myself I'd never morph Yeerk again. But here I am doing it. Moral dilemma gone awry.))

((Well, I don't want to squish you when I morph or anything. Will that happen?))

((No. Well, it shouldn't. I think I'll be fine. I'll let you know if anything changes in here that'd hurt me.))

I smiled. ((Okay then. Here we go.))

((Dude, Harvey, your roots are blonde.)) It was Marco's voice. ((Flea vision sucks, but I know a light colored root from a dark colored one. Do you dye your hair or something?))

I laughed, shaking my head. "Natural hair, actually. It's just an odd thing in my family."

((Let's get going,)) Jake said, interrupting us. ((We can talk about hair later. We don't have too much time.))

So, with five fleas in my hair and a Yeerk in my head, I morphed to raven and flew into the sky.


	7. Beyond Understanding

_**Author's Notes:**_ **_This is one of my favorite chapters, although I don't know why. I think I was just really amused by the McDonald's I used, and the one pictured in my head. I used a different one in a different story some time ago, too. It's where all the magic happens? I dunno. Anyways, R&R please :D_**

* * *

The flight to McDonalds was not exactly fun.

I felt violated. Like I had no privacy. And I really didn't. But the one thing that I hadn't thought of before agreeing to do this mission?

The fact that Cassie very well could invade each and every one of my memories. This meant that she could see me and Marco curled up in bed together. She could see me and him together on the couch. She...She could see us kissing.

But Cassie wasn't like that. Or at least I hoped so. She knew that she was only there to grant us access to the Yeerk Complex. But I was still worried.

((Cassie,)) I said. ((You're not sifting through my private thoughts, are you?)) I think she could tell I was feeling strained.

I knew that, even though Cassie couldn't shake her head, she probably would have. ((Oh no, no. I would never invade your privacy like that. You'd be able to feel it, too. My memories would leak into yours while I searched. I remember that happening when I was infested. Although, you do realize that, if Jake tells me to take control...))

((...You'll see into my memories.))

((Yes.))

My stomach lurched. It wasn't a comfortable thought to sit on. Or rather in this case, fly on.

Cassie seemed to pick up on how I was feeling even when she wasn't attached to me. ((I will admit, when I first attached myself to you, I inadvertedly opened some of your memories.)) Before I could say anything, she quickly added, ((Nothing too big! Just a birthday party or two and your first time on a plane. That was it.))

((I really hope that was all,)) I said.

((It was. Trust me, your thoughts are secret and will stay like that.))

I mentally exhaled a breath as I spilled air out of my wings and landed on the roof. Jake pointed out it was probably the best place to do it and I could just climb down the side of the wall. Marco left clothes up there from the last time they'd gone on a mission.

I quickly demorphed under the cover of the tall rectangular protrusion from the roof top, then searched for the clothes. Once I found them I dressed and focused on the Jake/Marco DNA fluttering through me.

I morphed faster this time. Soon I was a slightly bulkier teenager who had a suave voice and eyes that people could get lost in.

Not to mention that slightly uncomfortable feeling in my pants.

((We have well over ninety of your minutes left,)) Ax stated.

((They're _everyone's_ minutes, Ax,)) Marco muttered. ((It's really not that hard a concept to grasp.))

Since I couldn't speak with thought-speak and the others couldn't well translate the vibrations of my voice, I told Cassie that I was going in. She, in turn, told them.

((Let's do this!)) Rachel said enthusiastically.

. . .

So getting inside McDonalds was the easy part. The hard part was dealing with all the thought-speak rustling around in my head. One second I'd hear Cassie's voice and then I would hear Marco's, then after that I could hear Jake.

((--So what you need to do is ask them to--))

((No, wait, Jake. First he should--))

((Marco, be quiet! Let Jake speak!))

((Rachel, just keep your...Well, just hush.))

((As I was saying,)) Jake said firmly, ((What you need to do, Harvey, is go up to the counter and ask the lady for a happy meal with extra happy. Simple as that.))

I heard Marco next. I could only assume it was private thought-speak, because it was pretty personal. ((Harvey, listen man. You don't have to go through with this. We don't need to find out what's going on down there.))

I couldn't argue with him, but he was wrong. He was just looking out for me and I knew that.

((Cassie,)) I said mentally. ((What're we doing this mission for again?))

((The Yeerks have gotten a hold of some of the Yeerks in the Resistance movement. He's interrogating them soon, or so we think.))

((So do you think it's just gonna be a mass murder when he's finished finding out what he wants to know?))

While I had this interesting little conversation, I pretended to be looking for what I wanted to order.

((I don't know for sure,)) Cassie admitted. ((That's kind of why we're going down there, I think.))

((Harvey!)) Marco again. ((I know you can't hear me. I just wanted to say, I'll, uh...I'll keep you safe. I don't really know how I'll do it as a flea, but I will. Just remember that? Just give me some kind of sign.))

I gave a nod as a sign. I couldn't scratch my head because I very well could've killed the lot of them. Couldn't have that.

((Prince Jake, we have close to eighty of your minutes left,)) Ax chimed in.

((Remind me why we're doing this, Jake,)) Marco said dryly.

((Because we can't have Visser Three running around with knowledge of the Yeerk resistance movement. They may be some slightly useful allies in the future. Harvey? Let's get going.))

I walked up, however nervously, to the counter and the woman that was there. I smiled politely and told her that I would like a happy meal with extra happy. She sort of stared at me, then asked one of her co-workers over. I began to feel nervous.

The second girl sort of laughed at her co-worker and then told me it was her first job, hint-pointing to her ear. I suppose that meant she hadn't been infested yet or something. I didn't really get it. The second girl told the apparently non-infested one to go and sweep up the floors, so she did just that.

Me? I got dragged into the kitchen and toward the refrigerator. When the Yeerk worker opened it up, it looked like a normal fridge.

That was, until she pulled on a little lever and the whole inside of the fridge came sliding forward. Behind it was a dark tunnel lit by faint white lights. She gently pushed me in its direction and I stepped inside.

At first I wasn't too nervous. But the deeper I traveled, the more I began to feel doubts of this mission. I was supposed to be some mad freak of nature when I was released from Cassie's grasp, and I knew I could do that, but...It was just weird.

((You doing all right?)) Marco asked me. I couldn't respond, so I gave another nod.

I reached the Gleet Bio-Filter just a few seconds after Marco spoke to me. More nervous than I ever felt before, I stepped through it.

It didn't go off. A strange light flashed, but I guess that was just tally marking my presence.

((Cassie?)) I asked quickly. ((You guys okay in there?))

((I am,)) She responded. ((You guys?))

One by one they sent me their okays, and I continued on.

Perhaps that wasn't the smartest idea.

The whole place was crawling with Yeerk activity. I could only make assumptions of what each creature was walking around because of the descriptions that the other Animorphs had given me. Hork-Bajir, Taxxons...

And of course, Human-Controllers. It's really not that enjoyable to hear heart-wrenching screams and watching as people freak out, being forcefully taken toward cages.

I looked around for a minute, soaking it all in. I watched just how I was supposed to act as a "Controller".

When I thought I had the basic gist of it I headed toward the line of Human-Controllers waiting to feed. The line moved rather quickly, too.

((We're up next,)) I announced to Cassie. She relayed the message.

((This is just great,)) Marco muttered. ((I don't see the point of this mission.))

((We're going to see what's going to happen to the Yeerks in the resistance,)) Jake said. ((It's just an infiltration mission. We're not going to do anything big.))

((Whoa!)) Rachel said. ((Be careful, Harvey. We're still attached to your head you know.))

I'd knelt down and lowered my head to the steel gray water of the Yeerk pool. I could feel Cassie begin to wriggle out. After she plopped into the water I got up quickly, and before I could even flail I felt a pair of arms grasp a hold of me and drag me back.

That was my cue.

"NO! NO! LET ME GO! I DON'T WANT THIS!"

((Ow...Dude, you're voice is booming to us,)) Tobias commented.

"Please let me go!"

The Hork-Bajir tossed me into the cage without care. I hit the stony wall with a THUMP! and groaned out. Before I could even try and move forward, the cage door was locked.

((I believe that Harvey is bleeding.)) Ax.

I felt the back of my head very gently. Sure enough, I was bleeding. It wasn't a big wound, so I didn't see it much of a problem.

((We're moving to your front hair, Harvey,)) Jake said.

I simply nodded.

But I quickly stopped when I noticed someone wandering down the steps.

It was Derrick.

I made some sort of gasping cough sound. I couldn't believe it. Derrick, a Controller? No. No no no. That wasn't possible.

I threw myself down to the ground and continued to watch. For a moment I felt nervous, but I soon felt different when I realized I was in morph.

No. It still wasn't possible. I wouldn't believe it. Derrick was _not _a Controller.

"No! I'M NOT GOING BACK TO THAT!"

Well, not a willing one, anyway.

I saw a Hork-Bajir toss him in the cage beside me, accompanying him was some other guys. I could hear them, but I couldn't see them.

I assumed Cassie announced she was finished when the Hork-Bajir guard came into my cage and grabbed me. I was pulled over to the Yeerk Pool again and my head was thrust downward toward the pool. Seconds later I felt Cassie wriggling into my ear.

((Fifty minutes left,)) Ax said.

It was a really painful experience, not so much physically as emotionally. I wasn't allowed much time to dwell on it. Cassie started to explain what she heard.

((The Yeerks in the pool were sort of...Well, I don't know how to explain it. Talking, if you could call it that. They said something about the visser having the Yeerks in the resistance somewhere else. I didn't catch where.))

I couldn't say anything. I just listened.

((That's not a whole lot of help,)) Rachel said. ((The Visser must be torturing them or something.))

((That's my guess,)) Jake said. ((We can't stay around much longer.))

((I'd say this mission was a bust,)) Marco commented snidely.

No one said anything to that.

((Let's just get out of here,)) Jake said.

And I was happy to oblige.

. . .

We all ended up going back to Cassie's barn. When everyone had demorphed back to their original selves, the fun began.

"Well THAT was a waste of time," Marco said. He was lying on his back over a bail of hay.

Cassie was working with a deer that had been injured by a rusty trap in the woods by her house. Tobias was sitting in the rafters, preening himself. Rachel, however collectively calm she did so, was seething. Ax was hard for me to read. And Jake was rubbing his temples.

"We need Erik," he said quietly.

"Weren't you the one who said we didn't need him?" Rachel asked. I don't think she meant it to be malicious, but it was.

They broke out into a conversation over the whole idea of the meeting while I withdrew into my head and thought about Derrick. He just couldn't be a Controller. I wasn't expecting it. I thought my family was safe. Guess I was wrong about that.

I was sitting next to Marco's feet, my legs pulled up with my feet beneath them. I nibbled on my lower lip thoughtfully.

I would never be able to look at Derrick the same again. And I had to be really careful now...Even though I had to be really careful before. Damnit.

"We'll just go in again later!" Jake said, breaking my concentration.

"That works for me, I guess," Marco sighed.

((So what do we do now?)) Tobias asked.

"We wait again. We all just go back to our normal lives and wait," Jake said.

((I can try and locate Erik,)) Ax suggested.

"That'd be great, Ax."

"So does that mean we can go back home now?" Marco asked eagerly.

"Yes, that means you can go back to hanging out at your house," Rachel said thinly. "Or whatever else you were doing."

Marco and I exchanged glances.

"You know, I think that makeup paper might actually get finished," Jake said jokingly.

We all looked at him. Jake usually didn't make jokes. That was Marcos' bit.

Marco snickered. "Aw, I'm rubbing off on you, Big Jake."

Jake quickly shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're just delirious, Marco." When he looked down at his watch, he blinked. "Ack. I've got to be going. I forgot that it's my mom and dad's anniversary. I've got to spend the evening with them."

"Guess that's good," Rachel said. "You can take along some science homework."

"…Very funny Rachel," Jake said.

Everyone gave a little chuckle or snicker before we all started to announce what plans we had going on. Soon enough, we'd all excused ourselves from the barn and were on our separate ways.

Well, mostly separate. Since there was still a partial evening to look forward to, Marco and I decided we'd return to our peaceful little evening we had planned.

When we arrived at his house, Marco had left a key under the mat. His dad must not have been home because the door was still locked. We went inside, trying to salvage what was left of our once undisturbed...could you call it date? I didn't know...It seemed kind of like that was what it was.

I felt Marco's hand grasp a hold of mine and gently pull me toward the couch.

"That was some wild goose chase," he said sourly.

"Jake must've thought that he'd be seeing something there, otherwise he wouldn't have sent us, right?"

"I guess you're right. I trust him, but sometimes I think the war is getting to Jake. His judgment just seems impaired every once in a while."

I plopped down on the couch and Marco did the same. "But Jake's gotten you through all this okay, hasn't he?"

I think Marco just wanted to sleep or curl up or something. He looked sort of worried. "Yeah, but..."

"But what?" I craned my neck downward and looked over at him at the other end of the couch.

"It's not important. Never mind." He put his arms behind his head and sighed lightly.

"If you say so."

I reached for the remote and turned on the TV with a yawn. I hadn't realized that Marco slowly slid his way over in my direction, and before I knew it I had his head resting on my shoulder. His eyes were partially closed too. Yeah, he was tired. I decided not to say anything about it.

I twitched just a little when I felt his arm wrapping around my waist, a small smile growing upon my face the result. I knew there was something on the TV, but I wasn't interested in it. I was more interested in watching Marco rest. Or whatever it was he was doing.

"Tired?" I finally asked. Wow, I had such strong willpower.

He opened his eyes just a crack and glanced up in my direction. Didn't give me a response, but he twisted his lips into a tiny grin and then closed his eyes again.

"Yeah, I guess you are. Go ahead and sleep, I can watch TV by myself."

I think he murmured out "Thanks," but I wasn't sure. It was kind of muffled. I let my arm that was resting on the top of the couch slide down and move toward his shoulders, where I placed it. He didn't object, so I left it there. I think it was what he wanted too, because he made some sort of peaceful sound.

I never would have expected this. Never would have expected to be sitting on the couch with Marco like this and have not a care on my mind. Even though I had just found out that my brother Derrick had been Yeerk infested about an hour ago. Even though the plain thought of it led me to so many different questions, I found I couldn't focus on any of them. All I could focus on was the lightly snoring guy that was somewhat attached to me.

He made me smile.

I placed my lips on his wildly tousled black hair and kissed the top of his head, pressing my cheek against the tresses afterward to use them as a makeshift pillow. His head, anyway.

. . .

We had to go back to school since it was Monday. Everything was the same as it always was...

Algebra was still useless. Science was still something to ignore because I already knew most of it. I spent most of those periods speaking with Jake and Rachel. English we studied Edgar Allen Poe. Whoo...Spooky. Pfft, yeah. Some people thought it was.

After school I went home like I always did. Except when I came home this time, I felt adrenaline rushing through my system. I'd have to encounter Derrick eventually. Whenever that was, I wasn't so sure I was going to be able to handle it.

I dropped my bag off at the bottom of the staircase and made my way into the kitchen to get a snack. I came upon a rather surprising scene when I slipped around the corner, however.

Derrick was sitting in the middle of the kitchen with Tom. Tom, as in Jake's older brother, Tom. The Controller.

Derrick looked in my direction and then smiled a little bit. "Ah, hey Harv! I was just telling Tom here about you. Do you know Tom?"

I had to lie. "Er...Don't think I do. He doesn't look familiar."

Tom lifted himself from the chair and extended his hand to me. Reluctantly I shook it, fighting with all my might not to squeeze it tightly and yell Yeerk at the top of my lungs. When I pulled back I made my way to the refrigerator.

Just as I pulled out the milk Tom smacked his hand against the table. "Oh, I have seen him. I've seen him talk to my little bro, Jake. Are you guys in the same grade, or are one of you older than the other?"

"Oh, Jake!" I had to pretend that I searched my memory banks for that name. There couldn't be any connections to me and Jake hanging out. "Oh, he's in my algebra class. Don't talk to him too much."

Tom looked sort of...Well, I couldn't explain it. He just looked different. "Ah. Well, I was just talking with your brother here about The Sharing. He joined a couple of days ago."

My heart sank. And I do mean sank. I think it was somewhere in my feet now. "Oh, r-really?"

Derrick nodded. "After I had that little mishap with the people at my old job, I ran into Tom along the way home. We talked and he told me about The Sharing and I think they're pretty cool. Joining was a smart thing to do."

What I really wanted to say was, "Oh yeah! That's right. You just keep saying that, Yeerk. You just take over my brother's body and expect me to believe any of the words that come out of your mouth? Burn. In. Hell."

What came out was, "E-Eh. That's cool." I needed to give myself some kind of excuse to leave. Some kind of excuse to where I could slip upstairs and call Jake. Call Marco. Call someone! "I've gotta jet. My teachers seem to think that dropping lots of homework on us actually means we'll understand what we're doing."

They both laughed. I felt sick to my stomach. I offered a weak wave good-bye and calmly walked out of the kitchen, then bolted up the stairs to my room. My cellphone was up there. I never used it, anyway. It was good it would have some purpose. I couldn't have either Tom or Derrick listening in on the main line.

I punched in Marco's number. I didn't know Jake's off of the top of my head and the others? Yeah, right.

"Hello?"

I felt like I was going to hyperventilate. "Marco! Hurry, tell me Jake's number!"

"Er...Why?" Confused. As he should have been.

"No time, just give it to me!"

I pulled out a pen and paper and jotted down Jake's number quickly, told Marco I'd explain later and hung up the phone. Then I proceeded to call Jake's house.

One ring.

Two rings. I was beginning to get a little nervous. Most people answered the phone on the second ring, right?

Three rings. Maybe Jake didn't. He could be gone, that was possible. I hoped he wasn't.

Four. Okay, sincerely worried.

Finally! On the fifth ring, Jake answered the phone.

"Jake!" I said as casually as possible. "So, how's it going?"

He obviously knew something was up. I didn't have to tell him, it was just his instinct or something. "Oh wonderfully. Just working on some homework. What about you?"

"Oh, nothing much. Your brother's over here. And he's talking with my brother." I lowered my voice. "About The Sharing."

No response for a few seconds. I knew the phone lines could be bugged, so we had to act like this was an everyday conversation. "Ah, he's probably just trying to get your brother to join. Who knows...Tom's a crazy person sometimes."

I faked a laugh. "Yeah. Well, I gotta get going. I'm heading over to Marco's." There was the hint.

Jake caught on. "Okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow in first period."

"Okay. Later."

After I hung up with Jake I made sure that I had picked up my trail. Jake's number and my cellphone went back into my desk while I trotted back down the stairs. I announced to Derrick and Tom (if he was there, I didn't check) that I was off to Randy's house to work on some homework. He told me to call when I got there so I could let mom know.

I told him that I would. Picking up my bag (safe measure), I opened the door and headed to Marco's for the millionth time in the past few days.


	8. The Yeerks' Plan?

_**Author's Notes: So I'm re-reading the series right now, and I'd completely forgotten about these bullies in there. It's amazing how much you can forget over the course of a few short years. Goodness. R&R please :D**_

* * *

"This is beginning to freak me out," Marco said bluntly. "None of this is making sense."

"What are the Yeerks up to?" That was Rachel.

We'd met up in Marco's house. His dad was out at work still and wouldn't come back until about five. Jake was pacing back and forth along the middle of Marco's living room floor, Marco was leaning against the couch and I was sitting on one of the stools in front of his counters. Rachel and Cassie were sitting on the couch, while Ax and Tobias, both in human morph, shifted about from the kitchen to the living room.

"I don't know," Jake admitted. "None of the things they're doing seem to have any reason behind it. First the things with the Yeerks that want peace are captured, or so we hear, and then what?"

"You know," Tobias said in a leading voice, "They could be covering up for something bigger. Trying to get us distracted with one thing while they do another."

Jake looked like he could have given Tobias a kiss right then and there. "That's it. That's why none of it is clicking. The Yeerks aren't smart enough to try and multi-task with two different things. They're focusing too hard on the other thing."

"But what is it?" I asked.

"That's why we need Erik," Cassie stated. "He's the one who always got us the information. We just don't know--"

"Speaking of who," Jake butted in, addressing Ax, "have you found him?"

Ax calmly nodded. Something I was told he acquired from being around humans. "Yes, I did. He was pretending to have run away. way-uh. If that was the case, however, I believe he would have contacted us."

"Well, all that matters is that you found him. Now, the next time any of us see him, we need to let him know that we need to talk to him. Remember that."

We all nodded.

"I bet you that Erik was scoping out the Yeerks," Rachel said. "Looking around to see what was going down."

"If he was," Tobias began, moving toward the window, "then he would know we would need to talk to him."

I looked around at them all. They all looked so tense and worried. If only they knew what -I- had seen. "Then perhaps it would be in our best interest to wait and see if he approaches one of us?"

"I guess that's what we wait for, then," Jake said with a sigh. It was final. We'd wait for Erik to make the contact.

"That's good," Rachel said. "'Cause I gotta get going. Cassie and I have a date with the mall."

Cassie groaned. "Must you drag me along into your insanity, woman?"

Everyone laughed.

"It's just not shopping unless I've got my best friend with me," Rachel explained. "My credit card's burning a whole in my wallet. Come on, let's go!"

They left. Shortly afterward Tobias and Ax did too. Now that it was just Marco, Jake and myself, we could talk about my brother and Tom talking.

Marco came over and sat on the other kitchen stool beside me while Jake took his friend's place leaning against the couch.

"So what was this about Tom and your brother talking?" Jake asked, his voice sounding slightly more serious.

"I just came home and Tom was in the kitchen with Derrick."

"Did they hear you come in?"

I shook my head. "No. But I didn't think there was anyone home yet."

Jake's expression darkened some. "This isn't good. I'm betting that--"

"Don't say it, Jake," Marco warned gently. Although I knew his intentions to keep the possibility of my brother being a Controller out of the picture, there was no denying what I saw.

"I'd be lying if I said that the mission to the Yeerk pool scared the crap out of me," I started. "But what I saw made it even worse."

"Oh, you mean the screaming people who want free lives but are denied it?" Marco asked.

"Besides that. I saw my...Well, brother."

They both looked at me curiously, almost as if I'd baffled them. It wasn't that hard to grasp, was it?

"So he's a Yeerk," Marco said flatly.

"Basically," I said with a faint shrug.

"How can you be so calm about it?" Jake asked me.

"It's called repressing, Big Jake. We all go through it at one point in our lives. Remember when your grandpa died and your family had to spend the weekend away? When Tom practically tried to kill your dad because of it?"

That made Jake frown just a little. I guess that memory was something of a pain for him. I didn't know about any of it, but I was curious. Still, I managed to hold my questions back.

Marco shook his head slowly. "Is it just me, or are the Yeerks out to destroy our lives?"

"Moving on," Jake muttered. "This isn't good. That's three people they've managed to get that are close to our group. Granted, Marco's mom isn't exactly around us, but it's still dangerous."

"We haven't heard from nor seen her for weeks, Jake. Besides, it's not like she's just gonna call us up and say something to us," Marco said, rolling his eyes.

"Well this just plain sucks," I commented.

"Ya think?" Marco grumbled.

"All we can do right now is just make sure that Harvey's careful when he's around his brother," Jake explained. "As long as we keep everything low profile, we should be in the clear. But Harvey, you and I need to be extremely careful."

Glancing from Marco to Jake, I cleared my throat. "I lied to Tom and said that you and I didn't talk that much. Just that we saw each other in Algebra class."

"That's well and all," Jake said in a slightly wavy tone, "but Tom's not an idiot. If he sees you and I hanging out, he might start getting suspicious. Since you and Marco were already friends before you became an Animorph, you guys can hang out. As for you and Rachel, that goes too."

"Tom didn't ask about her."

"Tom doesn't exactly think that much of Rachel because he's always thought of her as more of a mall rat and air-head."

"If only he really knew her," Marco added with a snicker.

"Good thing he doesn't," Jake countered. "But that's the plan, okay? No acting different than you usually do. Just act like Derrick was the same guy he was a week ago."

"Okay," I sighed. I didn't think that, even when I was involved in a war, that it would affect me any. I thought that this was cut and dry and would be over before I could even say 'ding'. Now that I knew just how horribly wrong I was, it had finally struck me.

This was way more than I had bargained for.

"I've got to get going back to my house," Jake announced. "If Tom's left your house, he'll be back on his way back to ours."

After Jake left, I found myself hesitant to leave Marco's. I knew that I had told my brother I was at Randy's. If they needed anything, they would call me there. That was a big problem. Randy would say I wasn't there and that he didn't know where I was. Everyone would wonder why I had lied. I doubt that any of them could place enough of the puzzle together to find everything out, so I felt a little less pressure.

I sat down on the couch and Marco sat beside me. He lifted up his arm and I sighed, dropping my head on his shoulder. He lowered his arm and I felt his fingers gently running over my bare forearm.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about this," he said softly.

"I was still sort of surprised, myself, okay? I know that--"

"No, no, I'm not angry with you. I just figured that you would've told me, is all."

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry I didn't. I guess I didn't want to worry you about it or anything." At that, he gave me a strange, sort of 'you-should-have-guessed-different' frown.

"You should know by know, Harvey, that I am a paranoid and worry-wart sort of person by nature. It just happens that the people I care about, I worry more for."

I smiled at him and he ruffled my hair. I gave a sort of an approving, content sound and sighed.

"Tell me about your mother?"

I don't think he had expected me to ask him about her. When I saw the look on his face, it was almost as if he'd been smacked upside the head. After a few blinks, he finally said something.

"What exactly do you want to know?"

"Anything you're willing to tell me, I suppose?"

He frowned again, though this time it was more in a contemplative manner. I don't think he did it intentionally, but he pulled away from me and tugged his legs onto the couch and pulled them close to his chest.

"Well, you know how we always talk about Visser Three, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Ever curious as to why we never encounter Visser One or even Visser Two?"

My eyes widened. "Your mom is Visser Two?!"

He shook his head. "Go one lower, dude."

My mouth gaped open in amazement. "Your mom is Visser ONE? As in the highest ranking Visser?" That's what I was assuming, anyway. Low numbers for rank usually meant a higher position.

He nodded slowly, dropping his head to his knees and pressing his cheek against them. "Yeah, she is. And on more than one occasion I've had to come to some difficult decisions with her. On the last one, we almost rid ourselves of both vissers, but...Now we know one's alive for sure while the other..." he sighed. "...she very well could be dead."

"Isn't your dad kind of dating Ms. Robinette?" I asked.

"Don't need to remind me, Harv," Marco said flatly. "Bad enough I have to hear him pour out the charm over the phone when he talks to her."

"Well, it's not like he's gonna marry her or anything, right?"

He snorted, looking up at me. "I certainly hope not."

I reached forward and grasped a hold of both of his hands, swinging them gently with a faint smile. He smiled back at me and finally sprang from his seated position, causing me to fall back onto the couch with him atop of me. We both looked at each other and I could feel my heartbeat hasten.

Marco's dark eyes stared sharply into mine, and before I even knew what was going on, our lips connected, forging a kiss between the two of us that had never happened before.

Granted, we'd had a tiny peck here and there, but this kiss lasted longer than any I could have ever thought possible. My heart, even though it was racing, seemed to need less and less oxygen. I let my hands trace over his back before clamping weakly around his form, while his own rested on either side of my head. He pulled up a few seconds later and looked into my eyes with his own sort of hazy ones, his breath now surprisingly broken apart. He didn't pull back, though.

"Wow," I said breathlessly.

"You're telling me," he said.

. . .

It was the period right before lunch. I was beyond bored, since I had already read through this chapter and I could put the verb in the right conjugation. But no, I had to sit here and listen to the other students who didn't have any clue on what "korareru" means (And for those who don't, it means 'to be able to come').

I heard the teacher say something about needing someone to read, but I was way too busy staring up at the clock above her head to even give a damn. Staring down at my paper, I realized that I hadn't written down what she was saying.

"Meh, I'll do it later."

I said that a little too loudly. My teacher turned to me and raised a brow. "So we have a volunteer. Yonde kudasai, Harvey-kun."

Okay, so she didn't call me Harvey-kun. But I can't give away my last name. Not without...well. You know. Trouble.

"Er...sensei, what page are we on?" Some other student asked.

I smirked. It got her attention off of me. But, after she answered his question, she returned her attention to me and told me to read again. So I stood up and did just that.

"When changing the 'to be able' form of the verb from polite speech to plain in speech, notice the simple difference between the endings: 'masu' and 'ru'. All of the 'to be able' verbs in plain speech end with the 'ru' form. Isn't that simple?" That last bit was in the book, I might add. "Now that you can differentiate, change these verbs from polite to plain, referring to the table on page 96 as help."

"Arigatou, Harvey-kun. Suwatte kudasai." My teacher smiled at me and then turned around, returning to her book.

I quickly sat down and dropped my head to the desk. Whenever I read aloud, my face always turns really pink. It's beyond annoying and I don't know exactly how to get rid of it. I heard a couple of people beside me talking about the upcoming spring sports. I made some sort of light groaning noise and turned away.

I was involved in spring sports...

Why did I have to be interested in tennis? If only I could manage to sneak out of it this year.

That was impossible, of course, because my dad would sooner die before he let me quit sports. "It'll ruin your chances of not being well-rounded for college!" he says. Bah.

The bell rang. Just in time, too.

I quickly gathered my stuff up and headed down the hall. After a stop at my locker, I made my way to the commons.

"Hey Harvey! Harvey!"

I turned around and raised a brow. It was Randy, followed closely by Aaron. Hadn't talked to them in ages...I was sort of surprised to see the both of them.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

Aaron grabbed a hold of my shoulder and laughed lightly, shaking his head. "Where've you been? Haven't seen you in days!"

I feigned laughter. "Well, just been busy with a whole lot of crap."

There definitely was no easy way to say that you were a part of a very tiny, select group that was apparently destined to save the world from being overrun by an alien race. And I wouldn't tell Randy or Aaron anyway--I wasn't sure if either of them were a Controller or not. Instead, I felt myself getting dragged off to the normal place where the three of us ate.

"So what's her name?" Randy asked me rather abruptly.

"W-What?" I stuttered.

"The girl, dude. What's her name? You said you'd been busy, and we know you. You have almost nothing to keep yourself busy with. So..." He ruffled my hair. I didn't get why people did that so much. "What's her name?"

"It's nothing like that," I said quickly. I glanced up from the courtyard and noticed Marco and Jake wander by with their bagged lunches. Cassie and Rachel I could see inside through the windows. Each of our own little groups...

"If you say so," Aaron said with a fake grumble. He took a bite of his sandwich before looking over the courtyard. "I still say it's a girl."

I knew that Aaron's mind wasn't easy to change. If he wanted to think it was a girl...Maybe that was for the best. Then I wouldn't have to worry about him actually finding out what was going on. Should he actually solve my whole disappearing act and everything...I think I'd be toast.

"Could it be that Harvey will finally be able to get some?" Randy asked.

"Good goddess, Randy!" I said, spitting out my soda. "Getting a little vulgar, are we?"

He just laughed. We all did.

That's when I realized how much I missed doing things like this, just hanging out. My mind wasn't preoccupied with all that insane rubbish that was my new life. At the moment I was able to just laugh about why our phys ed teacher always told us to "go go go!" and why the girl who sat in front of Aaron in Chemistry was such a weirdo. But I knew it wasn't going to last long. Sooner or later, the seven of us were going to have to find out what was going on with the Yeerks.

And it was _not _going to be fun.

. . .

I decided to go downtown after school. There was no real reason behind it—I just felt like going. I kind of window browsed over the stores I normally hung around at, making my way to the food court. I hadn't eaten since about eleven and it was somewhere near three. That's a long time for me to go without eating.

I was minding my own business, munching on a hamburger when I heard some voices behind me.

"Hey, Marco-roni, mind giving me that game?"

"Why don't you hand it over before we take it from you?"

If I was hearing right, it was Drake and Woo, these two bullies from our school. I turned around to make sure, and upon sight, I was right. They were standing side by side in front of Marco and were taunting him. I glared and put my food down, casually getting up and walking in their general direction.

I saw Woo snatch the bag from Marco's hand, waving it about in the air. He was, of course, taller than Marco, so my guy couldn't quite reach it. I, however, was a different story.

"Hey Marco!" I called out, acting like I'd just seen him. He turned around at me and I swear that the look on his face was pure relief.

"Oh, it's you, Harvey," Woo said, sounding disgusted. "What do you want?"

"I just came to say hi to Marco." I blinked, pretending I was oblivious to what they were doing. "What about you guys?"

"We're just talking to Marco-roni here, if it's any of your business," Drake spat. "And it's not, so get going."

"I think I'm happy right where I am," I said firmly, folding my arms over my chest. The both of them looked at me funny and Marco made an attempt to grab his bag back.

Drake and Woo laughed like idiots and held Marco's back up high. I didn't like that. So, I forced my arm to spring forward and upward, directly at Woo's hand. I grabbed the bag and pulled it back before either of them could even react.

"What the hell?" Woo glared at me and made a grab for the bag, but I tugged it out of his reach just in time. He growled angrily and made another attempt. Failed again.

"Just what are you getting at, here, Harvey?" Drake said hotly. "We didn't bother you because you were cool. But if you hang out with Marco here, we're gonna have to seriously rethink that."

I rolled my eyes and let out a light sigh. I didn't need bullies 'respecting' me. It's not like I was worried they'd kick my ass. "Marco's my friend, yeah. And I'm gonna have to ask you guys to leave him be. Think that'll be a problem?"

They looked at one another with a slightly confused look before eyeing me. I supposed that they were contemplating it, because they didn't say anything for a few seconds. That hardly ever happened. Marco gave me a slightly annoyed look, which I hoped was just because of them.

"We gotta go," Drake said, finally breaking the silence. Both he and Woo turned around and stomped off, glares probably plastered on the faces that I couldn't see.

With a slightly smug look on my face, I turned to Marco and handed him his game. He practically tore it away from me and continued to look partly annoyed. After he left out a huff, I finally had to ask why.

"Marco, what's up? I just got your game back, dude."

"I didn't need any help getting my game back, Harvey. I'm not incompetent you know."

I frowned. "I didn't say you were. I just thought that they were gonna end up doing something stupid. Two on one isn't fair. I was just evening the odds."

Marco's negative appearance slowly faded, and I felt slightly more comfortable. He put the game in his jacket pocket and I led him back to my table. I could see him eyeing my hamburger, so I offered him the rest of it and he happily obliged.

"Sorry I blew up on you," he managed to get out between the bites.

I eyed him curiously because it appeared like he hadn't eaten in ages. I knew that wasn't the case, though. Maybe he just hadn't eaten today. "That's okay. Don't mind, really. I'm kind of used to it."

He smiled at me a lopsided one. I returned the smile and began to glance around. I could see the Gap, Meier & Frank, Bon Marche…you know, all those good clothes-shopping stores. My eyes hovered at the Gap for a few seconds longer than it did at the other stores, and when I saw a tall, thin blonde girl exiting with four or more bags, I blinked. It was Rachel. I should have guessed she would be in there living up her free time with shopping.

I would have waved, but something inside told me not to. Instead I looked at Marco and noticed he was muttering something to himself.

"Interesting conversation?" I asked jokingly.

He raised a brow in my general direction and then wiped his eyes. "I'm beat."

"How are you beat?"

He smirked. "Ah, well, I spent today actually learning? Let's just say I partially understand Conic Sections now."

I chuckled. Conic Sections were supposed to be the hardest part in the whole Algebra curriculum. I didn't think so...But then, math was sort of easy for me. I got an 87 on the test."

"That's always good," I said.

"Hey listen," Marco started. "My dad's going out tonight. I don't really want to stay stuck at home and I don't have homework. What do you say we go to my house and do something?"

I blinked. It'd be nice to sit around and do something with Marco. Especially since I didn't have homework and I didn't think I could go home and face my brother without trying to stab a turkey baster into his ear to remove the Yeerk. That would be way too obvious.

So I decided to just skip letting my mom know I wouldn't be home for dinner and went to Marco's.

* * *

Author's Notes: Yay. Fun chapter. I'm so evil with my little cliffhangers. Don't forget the reviews, people! And oh yes, and for some translations...

Yonde Kudasai Please read

Arigatou, Suwatte Kudasai Thank you, please take a seat.


	9. Another Side to Harvey and Marco

_**Author's Notes: I forgot to mention that I don't think I put in the time frame for the story. It should reveal itself over time, if I remember right (I tried to make it somewhat obvious by ages, etc), but I had it right around 30-35? Right before Marco's dad marries Ms. Robinette, I think. Anyways, R&R if you'd be so kind!**_

* * *

We ended up taking the long way to his house. By this I mean walking. From the mall, it was about a half hour long walk. We talked about the weirdest, yet most deep things. Marco told me how he felt about Ms. Robinette and his dad. I found out about the whole deal with his mom and found myself partially overwhelmed by it all. How Marco managed to go day to day knowing that his mom was the host body of the Yeerk that started the Yeerk invasion, I'll never know. But I admired him for it.

It was about five o' clock when we arrived at his house. He hadn't forgotten his keys this time. We got in with minimal effort, both of us dropping onto the couch after Marco locked the door. We partially assumed the position that we had been in the day before. It was nice and comfortable. Well, sort of.

Marco had his head in my lap and was on his side, watching the TV. I ran my fingers through his short hair idly, a smile on my face. I thought that I would be sort of a non-comfortable environment for him, but I guessed wrong. I do know for a fact, though, that neither of us was really watching the TV. If Marco wasn't going to do or say something, that meant I was to do so.

I slowly lifted all of my fingers until it was just my index finger running through his hair. I lowered it to his ear and began to trace the outside of his earlobe. I felt his skin tense, but he continued to act oblivious. I knew he liked it.

So I continued. Except this time my finger moved further down, going over his jaw line and up the side of his ear. He finally made a soft groan as he shifted around to look at me. His arms were covered in goosebumps when I glanced down at them.

"I take it you liked that?"

He gave me an innocent look before taking a hold of my hand and cupping it to his face. I could feel the growing heat of the blush flushing into his cheeks.

"Yeah, that'd be a yes."

Marco let go of my hand and I just sort of let it drop to wherever. He stared into my eyes and I knew what he was thinking about: that kiss that the two of us had shared. If I was reading the signs right, he wanted another one.

Who was I to deny Marco what he wanted?

I shifted some and he moved to sit up. As soon as he did, I grasped a hold of his hands and moved in. Milliseconds before our lips met, I could hear my heart beating in my ears. I drowned out the sound and removed the final bit of space between us, kissing him softly at first, shutting my eyes.

Marco obliged, of course. I could feel his lips parting and my tongue, almost with a mind of its own, shot out and began to lick around his soft, supple lips. It was a new sensation, and all the while this happened, Marco gradually fell backward until I was lying atop of him with my tongue gently prodding into his mouth. My hips pressed into his as I pulled my tongue from his mouth, Marco's own pushing up against me.

My eyes fluttered open and I saw something that surprised me: Marco releasing a moan. He really liked what I was doing, I supposed. Don't ask me why I found it so intriguing, but I did.

And I would do anything to get another one out of him.

I leaned forward and locked our lips together again, his hands snaking up and around my waist. His legs parted as well and my body slowly sank into the crevice between them.

My breaths were growing shorter and more rapid, a gasp taken in between every break of our kisses. Marco's legs had a weak lock over my body and I was slowly sinking further down toward the couch. I felt Marco's hot breath flushing over my face when I would pull away for air. His hands, which were traveling rather slowly up from my waist, were now at my upper back, and he slipped them under my body and wrapped them around my neck.

What happened next was rather interesting. It was almost an instinctive reaction, really. My hips were beginning to rock slowly, pressing harder into Marco's lower half. He responded with those soft and enticing moans, sending a chill down my spine.

My hands ran through his dark, midnight black locks, tickling my fingers and causing me to smile. I wanted to bring more enjoyment to the both of us, but there was always the possibility that Marco's dad could arrive home, even though he was going out. I reluctantly pulled back, my eyes opening as if for the first time.

Marco's eyes opened as well and he glanced up at me in an almost tired manner. We were both panting and sweat dripped from our brows. Even if we hadn't done very much, it still fatigued us slightly.

"That was..."

"Something," I said for him.

He simply nodded.

I didn't know how to explain it, but having Marco beneath me sort of felt...right. I mean, with his arms around my neck and his joyful moans, I was sure I would have gone further and not have been able to stop myself. But the voice of reason had come in and I knew that we would have to wait until some other time.

Neither of us moved for a few minutes. I just stared into his eyes and he stared right back into mine. I swear all sense of time was lost when I was staring, because when I looked away to let out a yawn, it felt as if I'd broken away from some kind of hypnotic trance. I can't say I didn't enjoy it.

He finally said something some time later. "Why'd you stop...?"

"Because I knew that neither of us would have enjoyed it knowing that your dad and Ms. Robinette could walk in at any minute."

He frowned, but nodded slowly. He knew I was right. "Yeah." Then his eyes lit up. "And that's when we go upstairs to my room?"

I chuckled. "As much as I'd enjoy it, there's too many things to worry about."

His frown grew slightly larger and he huffed. "Like what?"

"Well, for one thing, we don't know if Jake's gonna call about the Yeerks. We don't know about your dad. We don't know about-" He cut me off by pressing two fingers to my lips. I let out a light sigh.

"I thought we both said we weren't going to let anything stop us?"

I furrowed my brows. He was right about that; we'd both said that we wouldn't let anything stop us from being together. But that's what worried me. There were so many things out there that could stop us that I didn't know if we could keep it together. I mean, we don't really even get to talk to each other that much at school. Now we have to be careful because of the whole Tom and Derrick thing. If only they weren't friends...

"Are you worried?" he asked me.

I didn't have an answer.

I think he knew I was worried, though. So he gave me something that we hadn't really given much of to one another: a hug. It felt...not quite like a "pleasurable" experience, but it was more comforting. We moved from our top-bottom position to more of a side-by-side position.

We just held each other for what seemed like hours. Said nothing more than a couple of words that brought a smile to the other's lips or enticed a light laugh. Did nothing more than caress the other in such ways that goosebumps traveled up our bodies.

I think that at some point we had fallen asleep. Or at least I did, because there was a lapse of time that I couldn't seem to account for. I awoke, or so it seemed, to feeling Marco's eyes on me. I grinned sheepishly and scratched my nose.

"Did I fall asleep?"

"Yeah, you did. Kind of a nice change not being the that falls asleep."

We shared a short, but sweet kiss before he rolled over and pressed his back to my stomach. I nuzzled my face into his short black hair and sniffed some. Marco made a sort of snorting giggle sound and reached for my hand that was snaking around his waist. I was really surprised when I felt him lift up his shirt and slide my hand inside. Didn't object, though, heh. I'd have to be stupid to.

"You're surprisingly warmer than you normally are," I commented, as if him doing this was casual.

I couldn't see if, but I was sure he smiled. "It's because I've been here with you for the past few hours. You warm me right up."

"That's nice to know," I said. My hand rested quite happily above his navel, my thumb slipping down into it every now and then. I could feel his abdomen tense up every time I did it, too. In response he would press my hand to his stomach and try to stop it.

"You're tickling me on purpose!" he tried not to squeal out when I just barely had my fingers brush over the middle of his stomach.

I grinned devilishly and pulled him closer to me. He rolled over and started squirming as I gently pinched his skin. When he looked up into my eyes the both of us hastily stopped and stared at one another. It was...hard to explain why we sat there and did it. But I cleared my throat a few seconds later and he took my hand from his shirt and entwined our fingers.

"Kind of wish it was the weekend," he said softly.

"Yeah, me too."

"I also kind of wish there was a place we could go where we wouldn't have to worry about anyone wandering in on us and everything like that."

That desire kind of crossed my mind as well. Where was there to go, though, that we wouldn't have to worry about being caught? Not my house. Not Marco's house, either.

"I guess we have to face the fact that we won't be able to have a place of our own," I sighed.

"We've still got a couple more hours, I think," Marco said encouragingly. "Let's just enjoy them, hm?"

I stole a kiss from him, ruffled his hair some and then nodded. "Yeah, let's."

. . .

Days had passed and the Yeerks had made no moves. We started to think that maybe they -weren't- up to something. Erik told us that he wasn't able to find out anything useful. Marco told me that it was odd for the Yeerks not to be making some kind of move, as they usually were bustling around with tiny little missions. According to them it was nice to have a break from the war. Or at least, the fighting.

Tennis had started so I had practice every day after school. It was kind of nice, because it made me feel like a normal student and kid again. I hadn't morphed in almost two weeks. I nearly forgot I was able to.

Marco and I had been growing closer bit by bit every day. I usually went over to his house, and if I didn't we went downtown to hang out. I didn't want to bring him to my house because then Derrick would have a chance to try and connect him to me and through him would be Jake and then everything would be weird. We couldn't let that happen.

I came out of the locker room with my bag over my shoulder when I noticed some people standing in the middle of the football field nearby. The tennis courts were just to the left of those, with the locker rooms between the courts and the school, and the courts were slightly further down since the football field was built on a raised, flattened hill. It was sort of strange, actually, because a little bit to the left of the tennis courts was the baseball field.

The people that were on the field were really none of my business. From where I was, they were just darkened figures in the sunlight that shone from above--but my curiousity was just too strong to ignore. I casually made my way across the pavement and the surface of the tennis courts so I could see who was there on the field.

It looked kind of like Jake and Rachel. But then again, all I saw was a tall, well built guy and a long haired, skinny girl. Could have very well been anyone, really. The closer I got, though, the more I could see, and the more I knew that it was them. I shifted my bag to the other shoulder and made my way over to them.

"Hey Jake! Rachel!" I called out.

They turned in my direction and waved casually, then went back to what it was they were staring at. Whatever it was piqued my interest, so I quickly walked over to them and my eyes widened.

"Is that a—"

"Yes, it is," Jake said, cutting me off. "How it got here, we don't know."

"You just don't see these randomly lying on the ground, you know," Rachel commented.

It was a Yeerk. A dead Yeerk, to be more precise. I didn't really expect to see it, and it surprised me, to say the least.

"How'd you know it was here?" I asked.

"Tobias passed by the school and noticed it lying here, baking in the sun. He told me about it when I was in sixth period." Jake eyed the Yeerk with a raised brow, then quickly glanced around. "It's a good thing no one is here."

"What are you guys doing here so late?"

"Had a re-do test for history," Rachel said. Jake said the same thing.

"Not so good in history?" I asked jokingly. The both of them laughed lightly and Jake cleared his throat.

"We've got other things to worry about, here," Jake said. "Tobias went off to notify Ax, Marco and Cassie of what's here, so we're going to meet in Cassie's barn. Want to walk with us to the bus stop?"

"But the thermals are so nice..." Rachel turned to look at Jake. She lowered her voice before continuing. "Can't we just hide our clothes somewhere and morph?"

"I've got a bag and I could put it in the locker room?" I suggested.

Jake shook his head. "No. Let's just take the bus and be safe."

"Yeah, yeah," Rachel said distastefully. It seemed to annoy her. And it also seemed that she just realized I had a bag with me. "Have you always played tennis?"

I let out a light laugh, then nodded. "Yeah, I pretty much have. Couple of years, you know."

Rachel's eyes lit up. "Can't believe I never noticed it before. Have you thought about maybe getting some of those sportswear clothes on sale down at the mall? I'm sure you know how to shop, don't you? And with me to help you, I'm positive we can find some good—"

"Rachel, hush. Let's just get going before the bus is gone, eh?"

. . .

We ended up arriving at Cassie's barn about an hour later. Because she lived so far out, it took us forever to get there. Couldn't have been an odder group, really. But that was beside the point.

We were all sitting around in the barn. It seemed foreign to me, being here. Even though it had only been about two weeks. I guess it was just weird.

Ax was in human morph and Tobias was up in the rafters of the barn. I was seated beside Marco, like I usually did. It was really hard not to grab a hold of his hand right then and there. We'd kind of moved into the habit of doing it whenever we were close to each other. So I kept mine in my lap.

Jake cleared his throat and stood up. "Okay, now that we're all here."

Marco folded his arms over his chest and cleared his throat. "I'd just like to be the first to say that this is, without a doubt, the weirdest month we've ever had in the fight with the Yeerks."

"I agree," Cassie said. "And now that we've found this random dead Yeerk, it's even weirder."

"It's beyond Sci-Fi convention weird," Rachel said.

((Beyond Ax-not-eating-the-cardboard-of-the-fry-box weird,)) Tobias added.

We all laughed, but Ax didn't. He just furrowed his brows. A good trait to pick up from people.

"Just what are the Yeerks up to?" Jake asked. It was quiet, so it made me think that he was asking himself, but didn't realize it had been aloud.

"That's what we'd all like to know," I said in response.

"Eh?" He looked up at me, then blinked. Shrugged it off. "Well, all we know is that the Yeerks are kind of in the middle of a civil dispute and we found a dead one on the football field. How it got there, I don't know."

"Maybe one of The Sharing kids was playing football and it fell out?" Marco suggested.

"It is most likely best to assume that the Yeerk was one of the resistance Yeerks," Ax said. "Because there is no other sensible reason as to how it got where it did."

((Ax is right,)) Tobias said. ((The kid was probably on his way back to the locker rooms or something after practice and the Yeerk just...died. Or it was so hyped up on insanity from the Kandrona starvation that it didn't know that it had lost control of its host.))

"I wouldn't doubt that was the case," Jake said. "But then what about the kid? I swear...None of this is making _any_ sense."

"You're right," Marco said. "Things haven't made sense for practically ever, Big Jake. We've just got to deal with it."

"First sensible words you've said in weeks, Marco," Rachel said.

"Coming from Xena, that means oh-so much." He gave me a look, then a quick wink before returning his attention to Rachel. He also gave her a wink, but it was a playful one that meant pretty much nothing.

"When I last spoke with Erik," Ax began, "he told me that the Yeerks are laying low. It is possible that they are working on something internal that is of little importance, but highly annoying. Like the Yeerk Resistance Movement. However, we don't know if that is the case. Erik also said that he saw Chapman and Tom running around with a new face. One that, however doubting I was of him saying it, looked oddly like Harvey here."

I guess that if we were in some kind of movie, this was when the suspenseful music was entered. All eyes but Jake and Marco's were on me. I looked down at the floor with a worried sigh and started chewing on my lower lip. I noticed Marco lean in.

He whispered to me, "Don't chew on your lip. That's my job."

It made me laugh. I looked up and the first thing I saw was the glint of hatred in Rachel's eyes. I turned away and cleared my throat.

"However," Ax added, however late it may have been, "he said it was not Harvey. But he believed he was a relative. rel-uh-tiv-uh."

The glint was still there when I glanced back in Rachel's direction. "So who is he?"

"He's..." I started. "He's..."

"He's Harvey's brother," Jake said for me.

I suppose this is the time you'd enter another one of those suspenseful music sounds. It bothered me because I was hearing it in my head.

Rachel folded her arms over his chest. "Your brother? What's his name?"

"Derrick," Marco said.

Was I unable to talk for myself or something? I lifted my head and tried to say something, but nothing came out. Instead, my face turned bright pink and I think my vocal chords locked up. Who knows.

"Well this is just great," Rachel mumbled. "Now we've got another Controller in our midst that's close to us. And if he and Tom are friends..."

"Should we tell them about the little kitchen run-in?" I finally managed to stutter out.

"What?!" Rachel was off the hook now. She wasn't the happiest person on the planet at the moment. "When was this?!"

"Not too long ago," I said softly. "I just came home to my brother and Tom sitting in the kitchen talking to each other. He tried to connect me to being Jake's friend."

((Hurrah, hurrah, now we have to be even more careful,)) Tobias muttered.

Would it have been out of place, or just in place, to tell them about my little run-in with Derrick at the Yeerk pool, I wondered. I was already kind of discredited to everyone but Marco and Jake. What was I to do?

Cassie, however, seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. It made sense, considering she was in my head for a few hours. "I remember seeing him at the Yeerk pool!"

I kind of froze. They all looked at me. None of them knew, not even Marco. I think it was something of a surprise to them. However, the look I got from Marco pained me. It looked like he felt betrayed.

"Why didn't you mention this to us?" Jake said in his calm, collective voice.

"I...I didn't want to believe I saw it," I said. "I didn't want to think it was possible for him to be taken."

"You still could have told us," Marco said shortly. But by 'us' I knew he meant 'him' more so, considering our relationship and all. But the thought was still the same: I didn't want to believe it.

"And what would I have said? Oh, hey guys look, my brother's head is being jammed into the Yeerk pool and he's being infested! How crazy! Something like that?" I folded my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes.

"You still could have said something," Marco said softly.

"I would have if I had been able to believe it..."

"This is just great," Rachel said loudly. "It's the Tom situation all over again!"

"Which is exactly why we'll take the same precautions we do with Tom," Jake said clearly. "It's not that difficult."

I looked up at Jake and he gave me a comforting stare. I thought he would help me because of that look, and I could only hope that was the case.

"It's not that bad," Marco finally said in a quiet voice, looking toward me with a faint smile. "I don't hang around Harvey's house enough to arouse suspicion or anything. None of you guys do, either."

"Well, as long as we just keep up our normal acts we'll be fine," Jake stated. "So there's no worry involved, if we can all handle it."

Everyone agreed they could handle it. It wouldn't be that hard, now that I thought about it. I was friends with Marco before this whole little thing, so it wasn't like Derrick was going to plot my death when I told him I was going to hang out with Marco. But I guessed that I'd have to lie every once in a while so that he didn't catch on to both our relationship and the fact that I was an Animorph. That just couldn't happen.

"I think we should all just leave it alone. If we can get by with Tom, then with Derrick it'll be all right." That was the first bit of happy information we heard from Rachel during the whole movie. It was nice to see she was realizing I had no control over it.

"Do you think we could try and help him?" I asked quietly.

I don't know why I expected some kind of positive answer, especially since I knew that I wasn't going to get one. I just smiled weakly and looked at them. The disappointed looks on Jake, Marco and Cassie's faces told me my answer even when I kind of already knew it.

"We could try, but I don't think we'd succeed," Jake said. He looked toward Cassie, who was climbing into a doe's cage to give it some fresh water.

"I-I don't know why I asked when I already knew the answer," I said in a lightly laughing voice. "I guess I just thought that—"

"—Don't feel bad for thinking about saving him," Jake said. "I'll get Tom back someday. And we'll get Derrick back, too." He smiled at me.

I smiled back. I felt warm inside, that tiny shred of hope of saving Derrick growing within me. I glanced at Marco and he smiled warmly at me.

((Did anyone actually forget as to why we're here?)) Tobias asked. Broke everyone's trains of thought.

"That stupid Yeerk," Rachel grumbled. "Why can't they just go away?"

"Because I don't think our lives are just that lucky," Marco commented. Rachel didn't really appreciate that, so she threw her shoe at him. He ducked and it soared over her head, hitting a hawk's cage. It shot up and started screeching, spooking a couple of the other animals around it before it found itself satisfied and layed back down.

"Eh...God knows we've done just about enough to stop them," Cassie said softly as she crawled out of the cage.

"Who is this God that you all are in habit of referring to?" Ax asked sincerely.

"He's just someone," I said. "Someone we all seem to refer to when we feel like there's nothing to believe in."

"Oh," he said. "Fascinating."

"If we can get back on track here," Jake said. "I'm going to have Erik try harder to get some information. When he gets some, I'll let you all know. Until then, we continue with this stressful vacation. If you could call it that."

((Works for me,)) Tobias said. ((I'm hungry. I'm out. If you need me, just tell Ax and he'll find me.))

"Then I guess this meeting is adjourned."


	10. The Animorphs' Plan

_**Author's Notes: Gah I forgot how much I miss these kids. I might have to write something else with them, even though right now I'm all into my Supernatural story. We'll see. Please R&R :)**_

* * *

"Harvey! You need to hit it with a little bit more oomph! Just use your wrist!"

My tennis coach was trying to get me to focus. I had to admit, as of late I had been really, really distracted. Wanna know why?

Well, I'd have to go back three or four days, right after the meeting in the barn.

I had been heading home, contemplating all the things that were discussed and considered. It was a lot to take in, the waiting. I know it kind of seems weird, but I have to admit, I've been waiting for a fight for some time now, and I thought the last mission might have had some. Too bad it didn't.

The four of us, us being me, Marco, Jake, and Rachel, decided to go home together. We all lived in about the same vicinity, so it wasn't bizarre or anything. Since it was a nice, warm evening, and the sun was still partially hovering in the sky, we decided to just skip taking the bus and walked.

"So how's life been for everyone?" Jake asked. He was trying to lighten the mood, I suspected.

"I did terrible on that stupid science test," Rachel said. "Barely got a B-plus on it."

I felt it was best I didn't mention my acing of that test at the moment.

"I think it's weird going partially back to our normal lives," Marco said. "Especially now that school seems less overwhelming with the lack of...extracurricular activity."

"Maybe for _you_," Jake said.

"Coming from Mr. Honors," I said jokingly, "we'll ignore that comment."

We all shared a light laugh over at.

Most of the walk back to our neighborhood was filled with idle chit-chat about students that we didn't like and teachers that needed to retire. Rachel and Jake talked a little about their family picnic that was coming up, which meant their families' involvement together. At least they'd have each other and wouldn't have to worry about it too much.

We'd just turned down my street corner and were about to head to my house when I noticed Tom knocking on our door. From this distance, anyway, it looked like Tom. I stopped everyone and we took to hiding behind a large oak tree on the left side of the sidewalk.

"What's he doing coming back to our house?" I asked in a venomous tone.

"He's probably taking your brother somewhere," Jake replied quietly. "Even if we don't have Cassie, Ax or Tobias, I think we should morph and follow them. If it's anything important..." He glanced at us before watching Tom go inside. "They may lead us to whatever it is they're doing."

"Is there anywhere nearby here good for hiding four hideous freaks?" Marco asked, clearing his throat.

"I've never really inspected my neighborhood," I answered. I looked around the housing structures and then at the cul-de-sac nearby before snapping my fingers in its direction. "There's a grove of trees over there. Right between those two houses!"

We casually (or by casually, you could say hastily walked) in the cul-de-sac's direction and toward the grove. It was an especially good thing that it was nearing summer...the leaves on the trees and the evening sky provided perfect shade to hide in. But what I didn't know is that the darkness was going to make it even more difficult to find our way to a black car in the ever-fading night.

We stripped down to our morphing suits and packed them into my tennis bag. They just barely fit, but it was okay. We hid it up in one of the trees.

I focused on the fly and I felt the changes begin.

Pop! Pop!

The first thing that happened to me was the changing of my vision. Through what I could see, it appeared as if something took a hammer to my retina and smashed it. Nearly one hundred little TV like eyes that formed a picture, or at least what could pass for a picture. I was kind of happy my eyes changed first, because then I didn't have to worry about seeing all the others' changes.

"Dude! Harvey's got giant bug eyesssssbbbbpth," Marco said, his lips melting together and elongating to form a proboscis.

"If only mine would do that," Rachel said. Through my compound vision I saw her shrinking at a rapid rate. And so did I.

The whole process is hard to explain. Almost like you're falling through the floor, because everything rises up around you. But you know you're not because you can feel your feet firmly planted on the ground.

I was about seven or eight inches tall, if I was measuring correctly. I used the tree's branch as sort of a guide to know my size. I let out a surprised sound when I felt an uncomfortable feeling in my sides.

CREEEEEK. SNAP!

Two giant, hair legs grew right beneath my arms. They went out to about a regular arm's length and then snapped into sort of an arrow-like shape. All the while I continued shrinking, my many eyes showing distorted images of my friends around me.

SPLOOT! SPLOOT!

The last thing to change on my body was the pair of gossamer wings that flies are ever-so famous for. I was just about the size of half a guy's thumbnail and I was wired for just about anything.

Then the fly brain came into play. It was screaming about the poop that it smelled just a few yards away in one of my neighbors' front lawns. It even managed to notice the balled up garbage nearby that I had kicked into the middle of the street.

((So are we all ready here?)) Jake asked.

((Jeez!)) I said. ((This thing is like...a flying crack dosage!))

((They certainly got a lot of energy,)) Rachel said. ((But just wait until you fly with 'em.)) I caught movement to my right and noticed Rachel shooting into the air--directly off the ground. She didn't have to run, didn't have to pick up momentum, she just...up and flew. WHOO!

((Got control, Harvey?)) Jake asked.

((If he didn't, I think he'd be off swarming that nice, warm pile of inviting dog doo nearby,)) Marco said. Then in a disgusted tone he added, ((Ew...Did I just say that? Somebody shoot me now or something.))

I watched as Jake did the same thing Rachel did right in front of me. And to my right, Marco did as well. ((Come on,)) Jake called out, ((we're off to find that car.))

I let the fly brain have partial control so it could do the flying for me. And needless to say, the whole thing brought riding in planes and jets to a new perspective.

I shot up like no tomorrow! In less than a millisecond I was ten, fifteen feet in the air! And on the turn of a dime I was flying straight out of the grove toward the car to my east.

((Go right over the house to our left,)) I ordered. ((It'll cut off the extra time so we can navigate our way to the car faster.))

((When we get to the car, are we just gonna hang out outside or something?)) Marco asked. ((We very well can't hang around inside. They probably have a can of Raid or something just to be on the safe side.))

((Dummy here's right,)) Rachel said. ((Jake, I saw we hide on the tailgate. We may not exactly have the best view of everything, but at least we won't get killed or anything.))

((Okay,)) Jake said. ((So if I'm right in my judgment, that large, dark thing to our right should be the car, right? These eyes can't see worth anything...))

((If it isn't, then there's a huge dog in this neighborhood that needs to be on the Enquirer,)) Marco stated.

I saw two partially blurry figures come out of the corner of my right eye. One had dark hair and the other had a lighter shade. I knew it had to be Derrick and Tom.

((Let's do it!)) Rachel said.

((Ahhh...Xena's blessing.))

((Shut up, Marco.))

((Yes, Xena.))

((I'm on the car,)) I announced. ((I think the tailgate. I went where that overwhelming stench was, which also gave off a lot of heat. Figured it to be the exhaust pipe.))

((Good job,)) Jake said. ((I'm also on the car now. Rachel? Marco?))

((Landed.))

((Butt's planted.))

((Then let's hope this ride'll take us directly to where we needs to,)) Marco said to me privately. ((Otherwise, this could be the perfect destruction to our somewhat momentary normal lives.))

((Yeah,)) I agreed.

The ride felt so much longer than it actually was. But then, I kept having the fly brain popping in every now and then, screaming frantically about the odors on the concrete. Really annoying.

When the car finally came to a stop, the others and I took flight. My brother has got some of the wildest, thickest black hair you'll ever see, so it was the perfect spot for us to hide, and he didn't even feel a thing when we landed.

Where are we? Rachel asked.

Who knows, Jake replied. All I can see is a building.

Doesn't look familiar, I commented.

Suddenly, vibrations! Booming through my fly body!

Gah! I yelled out. Is that what we sound like to flies when we talk?

If we can ever get a hold of a fly and ask them, we should, Marco said.

Funny.

That's what I live for, my friend.

We waited anxiously while Derrick and Tom walked to wherever it was they were going. When they reached the doorway, I felt new vibrations. Deeper ones. I heard all of the others making sounds.

It's Chapman! Rachel said.

And with Tom, too. Oh-kay. Now we know this is the big mission, Jake said.

No wonder they had us going of chasing the Yeerk resistance people, Rachel sighed. Marco started to comment on what she said but Rachel hastily cut him off. Wait. Shh! I hear something.

I tried to let the fly brain translate what I was hearing, and I understood the vibrations alright. With my human brain I managed to turn the booming voices into English. Whose voice it was, though, I wasn't sure.

"...Everything went exactly like we'd planned it to."

"That's good, then. So the infiltration went perfect?"

"The owner is one-hundred percent Yeerk, now. Soon there will be pamphlets for The Sharing all over the place. The previous members of the YMCA will see that The Sharing, and we'll bring even more people into our control. It's so easy I can't believe we're getting away with it."

Ooh...I can't believe they'd do something like that! Rachel.

I never would have thought of it, Jake muttered. At all.

What I wonder, Marco said in a contemplative tone, is how Erik didn't hear any of this.

I don't know. It seems like something they'd need a lot of Yeerks to do. But so far we've only heard Chapman, Tom and Derrick.

"It was smart of Visser Three to cut out all the other goons and leave this to the smart Yeerks."

Guess Chapman just answered the soon to be asked question, I said.

Little conceited, isn't he? Rachel said.

How long do you think we've been in morph, you guys? Jake asked.

I don't know, Big Jake, but we should get going. It's probably not long before we're human flies for life.

We got all the info we need, Rachel stated. There's only one YMCA here in the city and we know that the guy who owns the branch is a Controller.

But how are we gonna stop him? I asked.

That's to be determined, Jake said. Now let's go. We might have a lot of ground to cover and there may not be many places to morph.

Good. Let's get going. Harvey? No offense, dude, but your brother reeks. When was the last time he showered?

Now that you know the basic gist of what happened, I can get back to the task at hand here. After another meeting with the other Animorphs, Jake told us that our next mission was to try and mash up the YMCA (even though some of us had to do extra practice there) so the Yeerks couldn't get out those Sharing pamphlet things. We figured that if we did enough damage, the Yeerks would have to postpone that plan. Because...If they got into the YMCA, they'd be getting a hefty load of people.

And we couldn't let that happen.

"Harvey! Jeez. That's enough. Come on, you're finished."

We were supposed to go tonight. It was a Friday and my practice had just ended. Not on account of the time and all, but because I'd made maybe one right move in two hours. It was nearing five and I was getting tired anyway.

"Yeah, all right Coach."

So I went off to the locker rooms, showered, got my stuff and left. When I got home, I was pleasantly (faked it, of course) surprised to see Tom over again. He and Derrick were watching TV in the living room.

"Hey, Harvey!" Derrick called out to me.

"Yeah, hey," I said, tossing my tennis bag onto the bench beside the staircase. "What's up?"

"Ah, nothing," he replied. "Just watching some TV. Hey, are you busy tonight?"

Crap. Crap crap crap. Was I busy? Yes, of course I was. What was he gonna ask me though? He just continued on, though, without my response.

"I'm going with The Sharing on a camping outing. Do you think you could take care of my chores for me?"

"Do mom and dad know?"

"Yeah. They said I'd have to get my stuff done first, though. But you owe me for that time when I let you watch TV and get on the internet when you were grounded, so..."

In my head I muttered, 'Dirty Yeerk. You know only that because you're wrapped around my brother's brain and you're scanning his memories for blackmail. I wish you would die.'

"Yeah, I guess I can do them," I said. "Since I owe you and all."

What I was really wondering was if there actually -was- an outing, or if they were planning on working more with the YMCA stuff. If they were...I didn't even want to think about it.

"Great. Thanks a lot." Tom nudged my brother in the side, then whispered something in his ear while pointing to me. A few seconds later Derrick asked, "Do you want to come with, maybe? We could get the chores done fast together. And I think it'd be pretty cool if you came along. We don't hang around as much as we used to."

"No, we don't," I said flatly. I didn't really want to hang around with Derrick anymore. At least not _this_ Derrick. "But that's okay. I've got a ton of homework to do over the weekend. Big project in my English class."

"Ah, too bad. Well, I'll let you get started then."

"Yeah." Under my breath I added, "whatever."

I was just about to ascend the stairs when the doorbell rang. I naturally turned around and answered it, blinking some in surprise at who it was.

"T-Tom!" I called out. "Your brother's here."

I gave Jake a strange look before turning around, just in time to catch Tom racing to the door.

"Hey squirt," Tom said. "What're you doing here?"

"Mom told me to come get you. Something was wrong with our phone lines and--"

"Ah, whatever. If this has anything to do with her disagreeing that my room is clean, I'll..."

"Who knows," Jake cut him off. "She just wants you home."

"I'll have to talk to you tomorrow morning, Derrick. Remember, be in front of The Sharing building around six. We'll be leaving then." Tom turned his attention to me for a brief second, then looked at Jake. "Let's go, then."

I told my mom and dad that I was spending the weekend with Marco. They didn't object. I took some extra clothes just in case something happened. Don't ask me what I was thinking, but I guess it was something that involved more clothes. Maybe I wanted to look more believable.

Who knows, really. As for my destination...

Do I even need to tell you?

Marco answered the door, of course. He told me his dad was going away for the weekend with Ms. Robinette. The details were given to him but he chose not to listen. I went upstairs and tossed my stuff in his room and then came back downstairs. Jake was going to meet us here soon, and the three of us were going to wait until night had fallen to take flight. Rachel and Cassie were leaving together, as were Ax and Tobias.

"While we wait for Jake," Marco said slyly, looking in my direction, "why don't we make ourselves more comfortable?"

I chuckled. "Hitting on me? Marco, jeez. I thought you were more polite than that."

"Not when I know I can't help myself," he replied.

Marco moved in toward me, gently grasped my hand and pulled me toward the couch. My heart started beating slightly faster than it was, which made the adrenaline in my system seem to think that it needed to run. So, when I was brought atop Marco, I was pretty wired on a natural hype.

I kind of wish I knew what would have happened if Jake hadn't ran the doorbell. Marco called out "Just a minute!" while hustling as fast as he could to the door. He stumbled and nearly tripped over his own backpack. I thought it was cute.

I realized that it would probably seem a little weird to see me lying down on the couch, so I sat up and grabbed the thing nearest to me: the TV guide. I started flipping through it casually.

Jake wandered on in a few seconds later, backpack in hand. Apparently he told his mom and dad that he was going to Marco's for the weekend and that they were gonna work on some big project. Whatever the case, we were there, and night was falling. We didn't have too much longer to wait before we could leave.

"I'm gonna go open my window," Marco said, excusing himself.

Now it was just me and Jake. He took a seat on the couch beside me and eyed the book in my hand.

"TV guide, huh?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Anything interesting?"

"Nothing all that good."

He didn't say anything next. Just sort of looked around, as if passing time with me was something he wanted to have hurried. So I thought I might make it go faster by brushing up some kind of conversation.

"So anything new with you?"

"Nothing much," he said. "I..."

"Hmm?"

"Oh nothing. Just thinking about what I'm going to do tomorrow."

"And what's that?"

"Go on a date with Cassie."

"Oh, that's cool."

"Do you and Marco want to come with us?"

My eyes widened. The first thing that struck me was that he knew about me and Marco. But then I tried to throw that idea away by assuming that it was one of those group hang out things. I didn't know for sure, but—

"It could be like some kind of double dating thing."

Okay. He knew. Either he knew or he was insanely perceptive. Whatever the case, I tried to make some kind of joke out of it.

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Oh. Well. Never mind."

I was worried, I will admit. Jake more than likely knew. But I was too afraid to ask just how it was he knew. There was a slight chance that he was assuming we were together and was trying to get me to admit to it. God, was I paranoid.

It was a good thing Marco came back downstairs. Jake and I looked at one another, then outside. It was time to go. Marco went around and shut all the blinds, turned on a couple of lights and darted back upstairs. Jake and I followed.

"Just toss your clothes on my bed," Marco said. "We can get 'em when we get back."

Before I even had a chance to think of the owl in my head, I noticed Marco morphing his osprey and Jake morphing his peregrine falcon.

"Oh this is so great," Marco said. "One giant freak bird convenshooooo..." his lips were hardening into a beak.

I decided to close my eyes. However, not being able to see the morphing didn't mean I couldn't hear it. Terribly sickening, the sound of bones crunching and innards sloshing around, disappearing all together, even.

When the three of us were finished, we took flight. One by one out the window, on the way to the YMCA.


	11. Fun at the YMCA

_**Author's Notes: Actually, this one is by far my favorite. I based it off the YMCA in my hometown (where I wrote this), and I can always picture it so vividly, so I love it lots. I hope you all enjoy it too! Please don't forget to review ;)**_

* * *

((That's the building, right?))

Jake was about a hundred feet higher than me, but his voice was still perfectly clear in my head. Was that the YMCA building? I hadn't a clue.

((Yeah, it is,)) Marco said.

Good thing he'd come along with us. Otherwise we might have been flying around for a while. The two trees blooming in front of it hid the 'Y' on the front awning.

((But then, I'm only guessing it's the one with the owls, harrier and hawk resting on top of it.))

((That could very well be a dead give away,)) Jake said.

We landed on the building along with all of the others. Once the coast was clear, we started wandering about, trying to find some way inside.

((Do you think they may have left one of the windows open?)) Cassie asked.

((They might have. But if they did, it wouldn't be a low one. Somewhere high.)) Jake flared his wings and refolded them back against his body, turning to Rachel, Cassie and myself. ((You guys have the best vision. Go look for an open window and call us when you find one, if you do.))

The three of us took to the air again. I took the eastern side, Cassie the south, and Rachel the west. There was a street alongside my side of the building, so I assumed that there wouldn't be an open window. And as I flew, I pretty much confirmed that.

((I don't see any of my side,)) I announced.

((Me either,)) Rachel said.

((I have one!)) Cassie said. ((It's on the...Third floor. From what I can see, there isn't anyone inside. Barely any lights, too. Almost seems like no one really noticed the window open...))

((Could be a trap,)) Tobias commented. ((We should be careful.))

((Okay, no battle morphs then, guys. Rachel, Cassie, Harvey, one of you open the window a bit wider so we can all fit inside. Do you see anything like a camera, Cassie? Something to catch us?))

((I don't see anything. Just a fluorescent light and a carpeted hallway. And we might be able to hide behind the bleachers nearby...There's a wall that would hide us. Might be a tight squeeze for Ax, though.))

((I do not think it will be too much of a problem,)) Ax said in his defense. ((Andalites don't take up that much space.))

((Then let's get going!)) Jake said.

((Let's do it!)) Marco and Rachel said at the same time. Rachel added, ((You just get off on these kinds of things, don't you?))

((Of course. Knowing we're off to possible imminent doom...There's just no way I can be comfortable with the mission knowing that phrase hasn't been said.))

((All right, you two. Shut up and fly into the building.))

So we did just that. One by one, Cassie, Rachel and I fluttered in without a sound. The other four, however quiet they tried to be, made some noise. Even Tobias, the expert flier. They just weren't built for the night, I guess.

Once inside, our little bizarre bird group waddled its way on over to the bleachers. It was safe, that we knew. And so, behind the safety of the wall, the seven of us demorphed. All in all an odd sight to see, I have to say.

If only someone had a camera. I bet they'd have so much fun filming this freak show, honestly. I knew it would never happen, but I just think it'd be something someone could get rich off of. Well, by selling to the freaks, anyway.

But who, really, was freakier than us? I guess we were closet freaks, though. Bah. Whatever.

((I hear something, Prince Jake,)) Ax announced.

"Don't call me Prince. And what do you hear?"

((Footsteps.))

"Crap!" He lowered his voice. "Everyone, morph cockroach!"

When the person—I suspected a janitor—came into the room we were in (which I identified as the racquetball courts' room and lounge) a few minutes later, we were completely morphed and had ourselves pressed up against the wall.

((They don't feel very powerful,)) Cassie said. ((Just sounds like a regular ol' guy.))

((That's really all we need right now,)) Jake said. ((But our plan is to go deeper into the building and hopefully find the owner. If we ruffle him up a bit, then the Yeerks will move on to something else, because they'd be stupid to think that they'd be able to continue on with this mission if we know about it.))

((Oh this'll be fun,)) Marco said sarcastically.

((A mission where we get to destroy some stuff and ruff someone up? What's wrong with that?)) Rachel, of course.

((Let's just wait until the guy passes by. I know I said no battle morphs, considering these hallways aren't made for them, but ignore that. I'd say it would be conspicuous for an Andalite to be walking the halls, but a gorilla, grizzly, wolf and company would probably be just the same. Not to mention my tiger and Harvey's leopard. So, anyway, let's just morph and get this done with.))

The janitor guy ended up taking longer than any of us thought. Whatever the hell it was he was cleaning, it must have been really dirty.

((Is he ever going to be finished?)) Rachel asked impatiently.

((We have little over an hour left in morph, Prince Jake.))

((Oh come on!)) Marco said in exasperation.

Finally, about ten minutes after the little complaints, the janitor wheeled away and went into the elevator nearby. Once the coast was absolutely clear, we demorphed and remorphed into the forms Jake told us to go in.

Now I'd been the leopard before. But with the smells of all of the animals around me, the creature's mind was going insane. There was prey everywhere! And enemies! But that tiger...he could steal my prey. The gorilla wasn't too much danger. I'd be fine. The wolf? Maybe I could take it. The grizzly? I could probably take it, but I wasn't stupid enough to try it. And the blue thing? Yeah, let's avoid that. And that thing with all those horns and blades? Yeah right! I'd die if I touched it. Best to avoid it.

((Harvey! Are you ready?)) I think that was Jake.

I blinked. Then nodded. ((Yeah. I'm ready.))

((You sure?)) Yeah. Jake.

((Positive. Let's get going.))

I bet we couldn't have looked weirder. Two alien creatures traveling with a tiger, leopard, wolf, grizzly bear, and a gorilla. And in the YMCA, of all places. Any human would probably think they were dreaming.

We were on our way down the hall opposite that the janitor used. It was dimly lit, but that meant nothing to my leopard vision. I could see as if someone had turned on all the lights in the area. Kind of like the owl of the cat world.

((I think we turn left here,)) Jake said.

((No. That leads to the showers, Jake.)) That was Marco.

((Wait. Does it? I can't really see that well. There was light, so I just assumed...))

((Good way to guess. Can't see that well either, but I've been here before.))

((It's down this way,)) I said, turning my head to the east.

Jake blinked. ((Oh! Now I remember. That's where the elevator is.))

So we went down to the left. One by one we made our way up the stairs while Marco held the door open for us. Cassie, Tobias and Rachel went first, then Ax, then Jake, me, and finally Marco.

We wandered down the dark hallway. There was a light at the end, faint and flickering. I assumed it was the office's light, unless they just felt like leaving on more lights for no reason. I heard a rustling sound to my left, but I paid it no notice. Jake did, though.

((Wait!)) Jake called out.

Too late. Before any of us could even react, Hork-Bajir were on us. Blades armed and ready.

"Gafflash, Andalite!"

Jake started spouting out orders. ((Go! Back down the hallway to the racquetball courts! They're wide enough for a battle! I'll stay behind back here and hold them off until you guys can get in there!))

We were retreating for just the moment. Jake was going to hold them off all by himself? Was he insane?

((Jake! You can't do it alone!)) Tobias cried. ((Let me help you!))

((No, Tobias! Go! I can hold them off! AGH!)) One of the Hork-Bajir kicked Jake but only managed to scrape the side of his leg. Blood began to absorb into the long, orange and black fur.

((Screw it! I'm staying behind!))

((Tobias, no! Come back here!)) Cassie.

"HRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROAR!!" The vicious sound that could make a grown man pee his pants escaped Jake as he maliciously slapped one of the Hork-Bajir with his giant paw.

((JUST GO!)) he bellowed.

But Tobias just wouldn't take no for an answer. However reluctant we were to leave Jake for the moment, we still went. Nobody said anything to Tobias about him staying behind.

When we regathered in the racquetball courts, I heard an anguished cry from Tobias. He must have been sliced.

We waited. A couple seconds later, a tiger stumbled out of the hallway and toward us. Tobias, the Hork-Bajir beside him, had a nice cut across his chest.

((They're coming!)) Jake announced. ((Come on!))

But no sooner had Jake said that did Hork-Bajir come rushing into the room. My leopard senses were heightening, and adrenaline pumped through my system.

A battle.

"HRRRRROOOWWW!!"

The first cry of the battle in here and it was mine. Sent a chill down my spine and I think I might have spooked the Hork-Bajir. One of them came dashing right at me, and my first instinct was to jump to the side. But you know what I did?

I tackled it to the ground and smacked it across the beak with my paw, claws extended. I don't really think it was the human in me that made that decision.

I heard a howl to my side, but I couldn't look. The Hork-Bajir that was below me tried to head butt me, and if I hadn't smacked him with my massive paw once again, he probably would have taken a hefty chunk of my muscle away. But he didn't, and all I got from that battle was a flesh wound on my right back leg.

((OW! You dirty little—))

I turned just in time to see Marco pull back one of his milk-jug sized fists and pound it into the Hork-Bajir's stomach. There was no dent, just a hole where skin used to be. The Hork-Bajir toppled over, clutching its stomach. Marco brought one hand up and bashed the creature in the back, right between two of its blades.

Needless to say, it didn't get back up.

FWAPP!

I turned again. I didn't get to see the tail blade meet with the Hork-Bajir, but I saw the results...and they weren't pretty. Let's just say Ax stepped...between the Hork-Bajir's body. And how he managed to do it so daintily, I'll never know.

((AGH!))

((JAKE!)) Tobias cried out.

I saw a bloody Hork-Bajir running (or rather leaping) toward Jake, who had just been slashed deeply by a Hork-Bajir Controller. The Controller turned around and his stomach met with Tobias' wrist blades. A horrifying squishing sound filled the room, then quickly left.

I watched as Jake slumped to the ground. ((Watch out, Tobias!))

It had been a trap. Two Hork-Bajir were beating up on Jake at once and one of the littler buggers had snuck up behind Tobias.

I didn't like that.

Just as Tobias pulled his wrist blades from the Hork-Bajir's stomach, the second one attempted to hit him. This must have been a new Controller, because they missed by a mile. Tobias head butted them...Directly toward me.

You didn't have to tell me twice what to do. I lifted myself up onto my hind legs, and for the brief moment that I was bipedal, I used all of my strength to knock into the Hork-Bajir. But I was too slow. He saw me and sliced a giant opening along my abdomen.

((Ow! Holy...!))

((Harvey!)) Marco said privately. ((You okay?))

((F-Fine,)) I hissed. I could feel blood pouring from the wound, but there were still more Hork-Bajir and I wasn't done yet. I fell to all fours and felt a little better. Running as sleekly as I could, I went toward the Hork-Bajir that Cassie was working with. She had torn off the tendons from its ankles, but the thing just wasn't falling down. I tackled the tail and started bashing it with my paws.

Little did I know the liquid strength that was running through my system was seeping out with every drop of blood I lost.

((SHIT!)) I cried out loudly. I think it was private, because the Hork-Bajir didn't notice. There was a slash across my back the size of the friggin' Mississippi river!

((Harvey!)) Marco called out again. He knuckle-walked in my direction and punched the Hork-Bajir with more force than I'd ever seen.

((Thanks, Marco,)) Cassie said. ((That guy just wouldn't go down!))

((Guys?)) That was Rachel. ((Could use some help down where I am! I see maybe three more Hork-Bajir and I can't get them all! Cassie? Jake? Tobias? Harvey? Marco? Ax? Someone get their butts over here!))

Marco stayed right by my side. Even though he had a large, gaping gash in his leathery black skin, he didn't leave. I saw Cassie leave through blurry eyes, and I noticed Marco's fingers were running over my cut.

((Demorph,)) he told me simply.

((But the Hork-Bajir—))

((Harvey! Just do it! I'll keep you protected.))

I couldn't help but trust Marco. So I began to demorph.

I felt the fur suck back into my skin. My eyes dimmed in sight and my ears also weakened. The bulging, yet sleek muscles of the leopard were disappearing, returning to my toned teenage muscles. The soft pink skin that was originally beneath the leopard's coat turned back into my partially tan human skin, and the deadly claws and teeth that I adorned returned back to my practically harmless nails and teeth.

And I was human again. Perfectly healed. The slashes on my stomach and back were gone. I still felt them, though. Bizarre.

((Remorph!)) he ordered.

About a minute later I had returned to my leopard form. And just in time.

"HRRROOARRRRHH!"

((HORK-BAJIR!)) Rachel bellowed.

What I assumed to be about five more Hork-Bajir came thrashing down the hallway. The familiar battle cries of the grizzly and wolf rang in my ears.

((Let's go!)) I said to Marco.

((Right behind you,)) he said.

I ran in a fluid motion toward the mouth of the Hork-Bajir, and there Marco and I ran into Rachel and Cassie. Jake had disappeared and so had Tobias. I had to assume they were demorphing somewhere and then going to remorph. Ax was following us.

We blocked the entrance to the racquetball courts, but we let Rachel and Cassie by. When the Hork-Bajir came rushing down the hall, we prepared ourselves.

Marco pounded his broad chest with his giant fists and slammed head first into the closest Hork-Bajir. I bounded forward and went straight for another one's jugular. Needless to say, the leopard within me made that decision. When it came to protecting itself and fighting, this creature knew just how to do it.

((Visser Three!)) Jake called. His voice was booming. ((His limo just rounded the corner! We need to hurry this up you guys!))

Rachel roared loudly and whapped a Hork-Bajir upside its head, blindsiding it ((There's only one Hork-Bajir le—))

FWAPP! FWAPP!

((...Uh...Maybe not.))

((I believe that I have exterminated the problem,)) Ax said calmly.

((Just in time, too!)) I saw the gorgeous black and orange stripes once again, and I prepared myself for the real battle.

((You guys have maybe two minutes tops before Visser Three makes it up there!)) Tobias called. ((The limo is pulling into the driveway!)) He must have returned to his hawk form.

((Demorph!)) Jake ordered.

Jake, since he was freshly morphed and brand new, took watch of the hallway while the lot of us safely hid ourselves behind the cover of the high walls splitting up the racquetball courts to demorph. I don't know if it was the fact that Visser Three was coming or everyone was just really hurt and needing to demorph, but the process took less than a minute—the fastest I could ever recall having done it.

Jake still watched the door. Even though we insisted he demorph too, he said he wanted us all out first before he would demorph.

"Don't be stupid, Jake!" Rachel hissed. "Come ON!" She was already morphing her owl, as were Cassie and I.

But he didn't listen. He watched the door intently, poised to strike.

We'd nearly finished our morphs when Tobias yelled at us, ((He's in the building! You guys need to hurry!))

Tobias also must have said something else, because Jake began to demorph. It was scary just how fast he was doing it, too. Pretty soon he was good old Jake again and already on his way to peregrine falcon.

((ANDALITES!)) That voice sent a chill down my spine. ((Come out from wherever it is you are hiding!))

((Come on, Jake!)) Cassie said urgently. ((Hurry!))

((All right!)) Jake said. ((I'm coming! Out the window!))

((DON'T GO OUT THE WINDOW!)) Tobias screamed.

Marco was just about to fly out the window when he heard Tobias yell, and he stumbled, falling to the floor in a flutter of feathers. ((Well, why the HELL not?!))

((There are Controllers outside the building! They're watching each of the sides! I'm pretty sure they have Dracon Beams too!))

((So then what are we supposed to do?)) I asked.

((I believe the smartest thing for us to do would be to morph something very, very difficult to see in this dim of light. Perhaps a fly,)) Ax said.

((But we don't have time!)) Cassie said. ((Visser Three will be here soon!))

((If we morph flies, we could always hide inside that vending machine over there! You know, the one that's kind of busted?)) Marco suggested after he righted himself.

((That's it, then,)) Jake said. ((Do it now! Demorph, remorph!))

It was the most I'd ever morphed at one time. I was exhausted, and I think everyone else was too. Returning to our human selves was slower than normal, all except for Cassie. When all of us had just hit human, she was already halfway fly.

SLAM!

I heard the door swing open and hit the wall. Controllers were coming, and so was Visser Three. We _had_ to hurry.

Lucky little Cassie was already finished morphing and was buzzing crazily over to the vending machine when we finished morphing.

And off we flew to the safe haven of glowing light.

((Are you guys safe?)) Tobias asked.

((We're hiding,)) Marco stated. ((Such a fun thing to do. Why don't we throw a party?))

((Oh shut up, Marco,)) Rachel said flatly. ((No time for this.))

Visser Three had to have been in human form. "ANDALITES! I KNOW YOU'RE HERE!"

The vibration of the many feet out in the hallway was shaking my body almost as if someone had turned up their stereo on full blast. It was really scary.

"Get these idiotic Hork-Bajir cleaned up!" he bellowed. "And search this whole building!"

((Oh great,)) Jake said. ((We could be here longer than we want to be.))

"Visser Three." Tom's voice. I wondered briefly if Derrick was here too. "I find it hard to believe the Andalite bandits would stay behind to fight you when they know they'd only lose the battle. Look." He must have pointed at the open window. "The window's open, sir."

I think with the pause that came, Visser Three inspected the window. Of course, all my compound eyes could see was the fluorescent lights of the vending machine.

"...Clean up this mess," he said darkly. "And do it before the building opens tomorrow. Anyone who fails..."

I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to ignore Visser Three's orders. I think he left, but I wasn't sure. None of us really were. All we knew was that people were cleaning up.

"...Take this body and put it over there with the others."

"This blood is _staining_ the floor!"

"Yeah, well, I just cut myself on the Hork-Bajir's damn blades. Stop whining."

((This is like waiting for the stupid janitor,)) Rachel muttered.

((We have only fifty of your minutes left, Prince Jake.))

((Ax! You know that they're...Oh, never mind.))

We waited for what seemed like ever. But when we didn't hear any noise for a few minutes, we assumed they had finished.

((Twelve minutes left, Prince Jake.))

((Tobias! Are the Controllers outside gone?)) Jake.

A voice we hadn't heard for a while ringed in our heads. ((Yeah. They're gone.))

((Can you fly by the window and see if the room is clear?))

((Sure thing, buddy.)) A short pause. Then, ((Yeah, it's clear. At least from what I can see. There might be someone in the hallway.))

((Are the lights off?))

((Yeah. Why?))

((Come on, guys, let's demorph.))

Who were we to disagree with Jake?

Soon after he said that, six flies fluttered out of the broken vending machine and started turning into humans. And after humans? Birds.

Then we took to the sky.


	12. Marco's House

_**Author's Notes: Just some good old fashioned boy time in this chapter. R&R :D**_

* * *

"Well, we certainly put a plug in them for the moment being."

Jake, Marco and myself were back at Marco's place. It was somewhere around two in the morning and we were all watching some kind of movie marathon on the Sci-Fi channel.

Jake had apparently told his mother that he was going over to Marco's for the night so they could study up for their science midterm coming up. Since Tom was "out" on The Sharing camping trip (yeah, right), he didn't hear about it. Thus, no need to worry about being suspected. Derrick was out of the house, too, so there was even less to worry about.

"Hey, share that popcorn, Marco!"

"But Jake, I made it all by myself. I think that you need to go make your own if you want any."

"Now now, you two," I butted in. "Let's not fight over food."

"Well, I think that you, Harvey, need to butt out!" Marco playfully shoved me into the right side of the couch, then threw some popcorn at me.

"Jeez, Marco! Don't have to be so mean about it," Jake said. He bopped him upside the head, chuckling.

"You guys," he said in a wheezing tone, "stop ganging up on me!"

"Hey, wow," I said, breaking up the little fight, "it's about two in the morning. Who'da thought?"

"We should get going to bed," Jake said with a yawn. "That science test isn't going to study for itself. We need all the rest we can get."

"Oh, well, _you_ may need sleep, Jake, but we don't." Marco looked at me before pointing at himself. "Energy like squirrels!"

"And having been one, you can contest to that," he retorted with a chuckle. "If you're not going to bed, then I'm going to sleep in yours. _You_ can have the couch."

"Er...Maybe I am tired."

I honestly was tired, myself. Some of this was too interesting to pass by, though. I'd never seen Marco and Jake act like this with one another. Probably sleep deprivation and suppression of a hard mission that was behind them.

"I'll get going then, too," I said. "Since Mr. Jake here had to steal my spot."

"Oh, well, Marco's floor is nice. It's so soft and squishy."

I paused. What did that mean? I was about to ask Jake what he was getting at, but he said goodnight and waved us off. So, Marco and I went upstairs. I quietly shut the door and turned to Marco, just in time to catch him jumping onto his bed.

"Do you think Jake knows?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Jake's not stupid. He can read me like a book. But sometimes he can be pretty dense. Just part of the package. If he knows, he's not gonna tell anyone. I trust him."

I let out a light, slightly condescending chuckle. "Funny how you're so calm with Jake when you nearly freaked out with Rachel."

"That's different," he said flatly. "I don't know her well enough and she's too complex to figure out. She might tell and she might not. It's not my fault for being careful." He pulled off his pants and shirt, tossing them into his hamper resting inside his closet. Then he turned to me. "So what makes you think Jake knows?"

"Just the fact that earlier this evening, he told me he was going on a date with Cassie and he invited you and me to go with him."

I caught the frown on Marco's face. He was just about to pat the spot beside him, but he paused. "Wait. What?"

"You heard me," I said softly.

Suddenly his whole attitude changed. "Ooh...This isn't good. Jake doesn't joke about things like that. I think he knows." He seemed nervous.

"You're getting worried, aren't you?" I asked.

Marco didn't answer me. Instead he just sighed, then pointed to his closet. "There's a sleeping bag in there. Use it."

I, myself, frowned slightly. I didn't want to sleep on the floor. Didn't mean I had a choice, though. "Damn you, Jake," I muttered under my breath, making my way over to the closet to get out the sleeping bag.

"Good night," Marco said to me. I think he was a little pained by this, considering we usually slept together.

I set up my sleeping bag and turned it to where I could face Marco's bed. Then, in a low whisper, I said, "Good night."

. . .

I woke up to a stinging pain in my stomach. I hadn't eaten anything since lunch, and my body was protesting. The room was really dark and the only lights I could see were the pale shine of the moon coming through the window and the alarm clock. It was about four in the morning.

I quietly crawled out of the sleeping bag and scratched my stomach. Nice and dark, and my eyes were adjusting perfectly. I walked out into the hall and made my way to the top of the stairs.

"I was worried that you were going to do something stupid and try to hold them off on your own."

I didn't recognize that voice. It was soft, not much louder than a whisper. My first thought was that Jake was dreaming and talking to himself, but that was because I was half asleep. But the more I listened, the more I learned.

"Tobias, I just wanted to make sure you guys were all ready, even if that meant I got hurt in the process. I can heal myself, you know. Trust me, I'm not gonna kill myself. Where would your fearless leader be then?"

Tobias?!

"Certainly not where he belongs."

"No. And I can't let that happen."

They didn't speak for a few minutes. I found myself so absorbed in their conversation that I didn't notice the blinding pain shooting up my leg because of the way I was sitting on it. I decided to slip down onto the first step to see if I could see anything.

The TV was muted and the bright, eerie blue color glowed over their faces. There was Jake, and another guy. Dirty blonde hair, slightly slimmer form, kind of short. Was this Tobias' human form? I thought he was trapped as a red-tailed hawk. What in the world was going on?

"I've only got a short amount of time left, Jake."

I saw Jake frown. "Damn it. And you can't stay, because Marco's got Harvey over, too. But I'm pretty sure they're asleep. It's been, what, three hours?"

"I hope you're right," Tobias sighed. Then he leaned forward and crawled into Jake's arms. I swear my heart stopped right then and there.

"Jake and Tobias?" I whispered to myself, almost breathlessly.

"I'm getting tired of having to hide," Jake said softly, but in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Well, so am I, Jake, but we have to." Tobias spoke in a calm, soothing voice. Nothing like what I knew him to be.

"Cassie can't continue being my cover."

"I know she cares about you a lot, Jake. And she'll do anything to make you happy. If that means pretending to be your, well, sort-of girlfriend to hide us, then she'll keep doing it."

"I care a lot about her too, Tobias, and that's why I'm kind of sick of having to hide it. I don't want to have to keep putting her through this."

Jake was running his hand idly through Tobias' hair while the smaller boy nuzzled peacefully into his neck, his slender fingers tapping on Jake's abdomen. "We also have Rachel to worry about."

"Which is another reason Cassie is keeping our secret: so that Rachel isn't thrown about by all of this. I care about her too much to hurt her, just like you do with Cassie. There's too much at stake, Jake, for Cassie _not_ to keep it hidden. It could all come crashing down and then the Animorphs would be ruined."

Jake sighed. "You're right, Tobias. I'm just glad you're here with me."

"Well, when I didn't see you in your room, I just assumed you were over here."

Jake's eyes lit up. Well, it was either that or the television was reflecting strangely. "So then, same time tomorrow night?"

Tobias moved off of the couch and stretched. "Yeah. Until tomorrow night."

Jake stood up too, and brought Tobias into his embrace. The latter boy was oddly small compared to Jake. No wonder he was a bully magnet, like Marco had told me. "With Tom gone you might be able to stay longer. Maybe we can...you know..."

"Jake!" Tobias exclaimed quietly. Then he grinned devilishly. "...Maybe we can."

"Sweet," Jake whispered. Then he lowered his head and pulled Tobias into a kiss.

I had to rub my eyes to make sure what I was seeing was real. Had to make sure it wasn't a dream. But after seeing it still happen, and even after a painful pinch (I had heard that was how you could tell a dream from reality), they continued to kiss. So at that moment, I knew it wasn't a dream.

"Sleep tight, Toby." He let go of Tobias, who went into the kitchen. He was already demorphing.

"I will, Jake. You too. Good night."

I watched so intensely that I didn't even hear the faint sounds of crunching bones and disappearing organs. But what I did notice was a red-tailed hawk waddle out of the kitchen toward the door, which Jake opened partly. And then Tobias flew into the night.

Jake sighed and wrapped his arms around himself after he shut the door. When he turned to return to the couch, I, as quietly as possible, slipped back up the stairs. I was lucky because I made a silent getaway. Marco's dad had had the floorboards checked recently and they didn't squeak at all. Very, very lucky.

After I opened Marco's door and shut it, I slipped into my sleeping bag. I hadn't realized I was breathing so hard.

"Jake and Tobias," I said to myself once again.

Marco made some grumbling sounds nearby and I shot straight up. When I looked in his direction I noticed he was clutching his pillow and was drooling. Well, maybe sometimes he wasn't funny. This time was, though.

"Good night, Marco," I said to him. I knew he couldn't hear me, what with his being asleep in all. It was probably more for me than for him.

I just hoped I could keep myself quiet about what I had saw...

. . .

"Harvey? Harvey, wake up."

I rolled over and groaned out an excuse not to get up. I felt a hand on my shoulder, shaking it gently.

"W-What..." I moaned out. I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was Marco. A nice thing to start the morning out with. "Oh, hey Marco."

"Morning," he said. His smile was warm and inviting. "Come on, it's time for breakfast."

"Can't I sleep in?" I asked in a gently whiny voice.

"As much as that would be enjoyable," Marco whispered, "for both you and myself...It can't happen. Jake made us breakfast."

That's when the memories of last night came flooding back to me. With wide eyes, I sat up. "Er...Really, now. Well, that's nice."

He plopped himself down on the floor beside me. "You're not still worried about him knowing, are you? Really, I know we can trust Jake to—"

"No, no," I cut him off with a wave of my hand. Then I chuckled breathlessly. "Far from that."

"Oh, well, then. Come on, let's go. Eggs, toast and bacon! Now I remember why Jake's my best friend." Marco gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before he stood up and made his way to the door. "Be down soon or I'll eat you share, too." Then he left.

I rubbed my eyes, then ran a hand through my tangled hair. "Oh great. This will be fun." I pushed off the sleeping bag and stretched, then got up and headed downstairs.

"Wow, interesting look, Harvey."

Jake was looking up at the staircase while I descended it. He had a pitcher of orange juice in his hand.

"Thanks, Jake," I said. Then I forced a snicker. "Not too shabby yourself there, bud."

He looked over his clothes, which was a pair of sweats and a tank top. The white of the tank top clashed with the naturally tan color of his skin. Jake laughed some and went to pour the juice into the cups.

Marco took a seat at the table and breathed in deeply. Then, in a slightly dazed tone he said, "Jake, you gotta come over more often."

"You just want me to cook for you, Marco. I know that cold cereal is pretty boring day after day. I could teach you how to make all of this, if you want." Jake sat down across from Marco and set the pitcher on the table, right next to the butter.

I'll admit that I'm not that coordinated in the morning. I stumbled over the couch and grumbled some on my way into the kitchen. I roughly grabbed the chair and placed myself in it.

"Not a morning person?" Jake asked. He was buttering his toast.

"Not really," I replied with a yawn. "Give me about a half hour and I'll be awake."

After I had fixed my plate and made sure I had everything, I dug into the meal prepared for me. And to my surprise, it was delicious! Jake wasn't that bad of a cook.

"If it gets me away from those TV dinners, I'll be happy to learn," Marco said, mouth stuffed with food.

We kept pretty quiet while we ate. Occasionally I heard Marco's happy sounds while he wolfed down bacon and eggs. I just kind of picked at my food after a few bites. I'd lost my appetite. My body was so weird, sometimes...Especially considering I was so hungry just a few hours ago.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"It's about eight-thirty," Jake told me.

"Oh."

"Were you expecting some other time?" he asked jokingly.

"N-No, no," I responded. "It just seems later."

"Well, I'd have to say, you guys snore pretty loudly. Kept me up half the night."

I looked at Marco, then to Jake. Us, snore? Yeah, right. He was covering for himself, that I knew. But I couldn't say a word. "Sorry about that, dude."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Jake helped himself to some more eggs. "But Marco doesn't normally snore. Then again, it's not every night you battle alien creatures and nearly get killed, so..."

Marco spit out what little food he had left into his napkin, then laughed. "Jake! You're making a joke! I'm so proud of you!"

"I guess you could call it a joke," Jake said.

"This is really good food," I commented.

Jake smiled just a tiny one and then looked over to the window for a brief moment. He then turned his attention to me. "Ah, thanks. Learned from my mom."

"Ah. Neato. Well, compliments to the chef." I put my fork on my plate and looked at Marco. "Hey, can I take a shower?"

"Uh, yeah," he said. "It's just down the hall by the stairs. Towel cupboard is to the right of the door." He waved toward the staircase while wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"Okay. Thanks." I excused myself from the table and wandered on down the hall that I had never exactly been down before. There was the bathroom, just like Marco said. Then there was a door to the garage, a door to another bedroom and the towel cupboard. So I grabbed a towel, hopped on into the bathroom to take my shower.

While I showered, I thought of a lot of things. Mostly about what I witnessed last night, and about Marco. Here we were, doing the same thing that Jake and Tobias were, and yet...no one really knew. Well, maybe Jake. But how he knew, I didn't know. He'd have to be pretty perceptive. Didn't doubt that.

I wondered how Cassie would feel if she had found out about Marco and me. She was already carrying a lot on her shoulders by knowing about Jake and Tobias. And I knew Cassie loved Jake. Really! She loved him. And I think that she wouldn't let anything happen to him if she could help it. Even though she was probably writhing inside, she just wanted him to be happy. I admired her for that. She was so...trustworthy. Like Jake. It was no wonder they fit together so well. Or at least, seemed to.

I found myself think about Ax and Rachel. As the resident alien, I'm sure Ax didn't know enough about humans to catch the complexity of all that was going on in secret around him. And Rachel? She was far from stupid, but I don't think even she suspected anything--Cassie did too well of a job keeping everything in place. Everything could be ruined if the poor girl found it to be too much.

About twenty minutes later I stepped out of the shower. I wrapped a towel around my waist and headed for Marco's room.

What I didn't notice was Marco sprawled over the back of his couch, searching his backpack for his science book. He heard my footsteps and looked up at me.

"Oooh. Nice."

"Where's Jake?" was the first thing out of my mouth.

"He went upstairs to use that bathroom for a shower. Went up about...five minutes ago. Jake takes long showers, too—he won't be out for about half an hour." He grinned wickedly at me. "Come over here so I can steal a peek from under the towel."

I felt my body flush red. That hadn't happened for a while. Then I did something that really surprised me: I giggled. "Oh, you want to see what the towel's covering?"

Still grinning, he nodded and dropped his butt onto the couch. "Yeah, so get your butt over here."

I folded my arms over my chest, a few drops of water running down from my hair. "Well, that's a little rude. I think that I'll just stay right where I am."

That made him slightly annoyed. Marco pushed himself from the couch and strutted over to me. Seeing as I didn't have any shoes on, I didn't have too much of a height advantage. I was just about an inch taller than him. His arms slid out from his sides and he snaked them around my waist, pulling me close.

"Don't make me take it off for you," he threatened playfully.

I rolled my eyes and let my arms slowly fall from my chest to where I could wrap them around his neck. He smirked and I did too, yet he made no move to remove the towel. However, he did run his fingers slowly up and down the small of my back, sending a chill down my spine.

"Just what do you think you're doing, Marco?" I asked in mock-annoyance.

"I'm just...tickling you. Even though I know you don't squirm like a madman, I know you like it. Look at your arms."

It was true—my arms were covered in goosebumps. And even though it's embarrassing to say it, my nipples were surprisingly hard. I chose to blame the cold from just coming out of the shower.

"If you don't quit, we might get going and...I don't know if I would be able to stop myself."

"That's quite alright," he purred. "I don't think I'd want you to stop."

"…Jake's upstairs."

That got him. He still stayed attached to me, and I to him. He moved one of his hands toward my chest and ran his index finger down the center of my body, stopping right above my bellybutton. "...When I finish studying for this test, you're mine, bud."

I held back a grin, nodding. "I can handle that. Anything I can help you with to achieve this faster?"

"Lend me your brain and I think I'll do just fine."

I leaned downward and kissed his forehead, then moved lower and kissed his nose. Just before I reached his lips, I pulled back, looking into his eyes. "You know I'd love to, but that just isn't possible. But I can help you and Jake study."

"I think I like that idea."

"Good." And that's when I realized, quite suddenly at that, that I was wearing just a towel.

"At least I know _you_ can't wait," he said teasingly. I think he was referring to the overly hard growth that was brushing up between the two of us. This was one of the reasons I wished I had managed to sneak by and dress myself first. He pulled away, but not without a kiss first. "Go on, get dressed. Jake will be out soon and he'll put our noses to the grindstone."


	13. Memories That Last a Lifetime

_**Author's Notes: I was studying Biology when I wrote this chapter, now that I remember. And with the Japanese in the previous one, I was studying Japanese. I'm so transparent, apparently. Haha. Please R&R and enjoy! Now, keep in mind, this story IS rated M for Mature. So if you're under the age of 18, I advise you to read elsewhere than this chapter and chapter 15. There is sexual content between Harvey and Marco. SLASH!  
**_

* * *

"No. See, that's the fibula and that bone _there_ is the tibia."

I tried explaining the picture to Marco as well as I could, but he wasn't getting it. He always got the two mixed up.

"Well how the hell are you supposed to know the difference?"

"Look," Jake said. "The tibia makes a T shape, and it's the bigger one. Think of it that way."

"Of course you'd find the easiest way," Marco teased. "I, on the other hand, am the master of the strange named bones. Like the phalanges or the metacarpals."

"Oh really?" I asked. "Show me then. Where are the phalanges?"

"Er...Well, they're on the hand somewhere. I don't know where for sure. I think the tips?" He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

Jake chuckled. "I've got a whole bunch of little hints that can probably help. I came up with them while Harvey taught you about the digestive system."

"Just because someone had to be smarter than he needed to be and zoom through biology in eighth grade..."

"Ah, that's not important," I said. "Let's see them, Jake."

He pointed to the frontal bone. "See? This one is in the _front_. The frontal bone. And this one?" He pointed to the parietal bones. "They're on either side of your head. Those are kind of like the perimeter of the head. Get it?"

"I think so," Marco said. "So what's the name of the bone in the back of the head?"

"Occipital bone," I said breezily. "It's directly parallel to your eyes. Think of it this way. When someone knocks you upside the head, you see white, right? So, when you see white in the eye _sockets_, it's because someone hit you in the _back_ of the head. The occipital bone."

Marco rubbed his forehead. "This is too hard. Why do we need to learn all of these?"

"Because it's the science midterm, buddy, and that's enough to make any of us freak out." Jake scribbled some stuff down on his paper and then hovered his hand over the face. "Where's the maxilla, Marco?"

"Uh...Isn't it your upper lip?"

"Well, not exactly the upper lip. But yeah, you're right. It's the bone behind the skin."

"Whoo-hoo!"

I chuckled and shook my head. "Well, that's what, twenty bones out of thirty that he has memorized now? Or that we hope he does?"

"I have complete confidence that Marco will scrape by with his normal C-plus average."

Marco glared at both Jake and me, laughing fakely. "Haha, oh so funny, you two. Stop ganging up on me. I may not know bones that well, but there are other things I'm good at."

"Like finding the girls that won't go out with you," Jake suggested.

Marco threw his pencil, hitting Jake square in the chest. "So not funny, Jake."

He held his hands up. "Okay, okay, I'm done."

"Let's play nice, you guys," I said in a medium tone. "We don't need someone's eye poked out."

"Oh yeah? Well...Bah." Marco retrieved his pencil, wrote some stuff down on his paper and then rolled his eyes. "I'll just wear a long sleeved shirt on Monday so I can write the answers on my arm."

"There's the Marco we know and love," Jake said.

That totally hit me in the wrong way. At first I was assuming that Jake actually did like Marco and was going to try taking him away from me, but then I remembered the little scene last night. I didn't have to worry any. That brief moment where my blood pressure rose disappeared, and my body went back to normal.

Why was I so jealous, anyway? I mean, it wasn't like I had to worry about Marco leaving me or something. Oh no, far from that. He and I were too into each other. And…dare I even think it?

Was I falling in love?

No…

Jake looked down at his watch. "Oh crap. Is it really three? I've got to get home. I told my mom I'd only be here until about noon. I'm surprised she hasn't called yet..." He started to gather up his stuff.

Wow, was it really that late? I thought. I glanced at the clock on the wall. Yeah, it was just a little before three. I guess I'd gotten up so early that my internal clock was thrown off.

"I'll catch you guys later," Jake said.

"At school on Monday," Marco confirmed. "Later, Big Jake."

Shortly after Jake left, I helped Marco collect up his stuff. I don't know why, but I was feeling really uncomfortable. I moved Marco's bag over to the first step of the staircase and blinked when I heard the door lock. I looked up at him.

"Safety measure," he told me. Then when I didn't respond, he added, "I don't want some burglar coming in and stealing things."

I still didn't say anything. That uncomfortable feeling was waving madly. One minute I thought I might get sick, and then the next I was feeling as if there was nothing in the world that could worry me. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling all that great.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," he told me upon passing me by. I nodded. "When I get out, do you maybe want to go the mall or something? I mean, it is the weekend. We need something fun to do after all that boring studying."

"Okay then," I finally said. "I'll just watch TV."

"Okay," he said with a smile. "See you in a bit."

I wandered over to the couch after I heard Marco start the shower. There was really nothing on with the exception of maybe a good movie or two. I stopped flipping channels after about the third time I surfed through them all. Instead I let my mind wander.

The first thing, of course, that came into my mind was Marco. It wasn't bad or anything, but I felt a lump growing in my throat. Did I love him? I didn't know. Did he love me? That, of course, I didn't know. I'd known him for a while, which was score one for love. He was funny, sweet and caring. Another point for love. He made me feel really good about myself, too. Yet another point for love. Not to mention he was really cute and thought I was, too.

But I'm only a kid. How am I supposed to know if I'm in love or not?

I must have been contemplating longer than I'd thought, because the next time I looked over at the hall, Marco was making his way up the stairs. Yeah, I really spaced out that time.

He came down about five minutes later, fully dressed, with his hands messing around in his hair. "Do you know where my shoes are?"

"By the door, right next to mine."

"Eh-heh. Oops." He walked over to the door, slipped into his shoes and tossed me mine. "Come on, let's go."

. . .

It was about eight o' clock. The bus had just dropped Marco and I off and we were wandering down his street to his house. The moon was peeking out over in the east, but the sun was still setting in the west. It was twilight, my favorite time. More night than day, but there was still day. Just a little.

The streetlights were flickering on. All of the people in the surrounding houses were opening their windows so the night breeze could cool them down. I was wearing a pair of khaki shorts with a light grey T-shirt, the words "Works Wonders" on the front of it. It was a little joke shirt I received on my last birthday. It was kind of tight, but I still liked it. Marco was wearing jeans and a white shirt with a plaid button-up shirt. I didn't understand how he could handle wearing that with the growing heat.

We turned into his driveway and made our way up to his front door. We were walking so close to one another that our hands kept bumping together, but I couldn't grasp a hold of it like I wanted to. Not until I got inside, anyway.

Marco popped the lock and stepped inside, letting out a loud burp. We'd eaten at the mall so neither of us would have to cook. Junk food may have been good for snacking, but it wasn't that great for dinner. I was lucky the food court had an Arby's put in. Yes, I guess it's kind of fast food, but it was healthy. Well. Healthi_er_.

I shut the door behind me and stretched. Marco headed straight for the kitchen.

"Didn't you just eat?" I asked after letting out a yawn.

"I'm looking for something."

"Oh. Okay. Not food, right?"

"I'm not a bottomless pit, Harv. I know when to stop eating." He offered a chuckle and I dropped down on the couch.

"So what do you want to do tonight?"

"Maybe catch a bit more Z's. I mean come on, seven hours is not nearly enough. I'm thinking of doubling that."

"Oh. Well, then you'd have to get to sleep now if you don't want to waste the day away tomorrow."

I heard his footsteps and then saw him hovering over the couch. "Well, I don't exactly think that'll be a problem. We don't have anything to do tomorrow, do we?"

I shook my head. "No, not that I know of."

"Well then, it wouldn't waste the day." Before I could respond with anything, he walked off. I sat up and blinked. He was going upstairs. Was he really going to spend fourteen hours sleeping?

I knew he did this so I would follow him. I lifted myself from the couch and moved toward the stairs. As I ascended them, a weird feeling of anticipation coursed through my body.

Every step I took seemed a little bit longer than it actually was. When I reached Marco's room, it seemed almost as if I was entering a surreal dream. But after opening his door, it was far from it. He was just sprawled out on his bed.

"I can't sleep," he said. "It's hotter up here than I thought it'd be."

"Well, maybe turn on the air conditioner?" I suggested.

He glanced up at me and then pointed to my right. "The box is right there. Turn the notch to the left."

I did just what he said, and about five seconds afterward, the air conditioner came on. I was standing right next to the vent, and the breath of cold air that hit me caused me to shudder slightly.

Marco sighed contentedly and rolled over onto his side, toward me. "Come on and lay down, will ya?"

"I thought you wanted to sleep," I teased.

He grinned. "You're a better pillow than my own, so get over here."

I kicked off my shoes and dropped myself onto his bed. He snaked his arm around my waist and pulled himself close to me. I smiled and rested my chin atop his head, sighing softly.

"Even if I'm burning up, I don't mind your heat. It's comforting."

"Sweet of you to say that..."

He started to nuzzle his nose into my neck. I felt a smirk forming on my face, but I ignored it.

"Lost that little bit of sleepiness you had, did you?" I whispered. He didn't respond, only moved up a little bit to my earlobe. I let out a light shudder because it tickled. My ears are one of the most sensitive parts of my body. Did he know that?

He only nibbled on my ear for a brief moment. He tugged on my waist and was trying to send me a signal: he wanted me to roll onto my side so he could kiss me on the lips.

So of course I did it.

But what surprised me was that, after I rolled over, I felt myself rolling a little bit further, and I was atop him. This situation was turning out much like the time we made out on the couch.

"You've got the cutest lips..." he whispered. Once again I was cut off before I could respond. His lips were really warm and they tasted like the vanilla shake that he had earlier with dinner. Brought a smile to my lips.

My arms were resting on either side of Marco's head and were pressing against the headboard of his bed to keep me from falling on top of him. We shared brief kisses at first, but I felt his lips part and I went in for the kill.

I grabbed a hold of his tongue with my own. The warm breath that escaped from his mouth heated up my cheeks, giving me incentive to go further. Not to mention the way his arms were caressing my back and fidgeting with the hem of my shirt.

I finally gave in to his demands and lifted my arms up so he could take off the hindrance between us. It felt nice to have the cool air from the conditioner brushing over my back. Now that I was shirtless, it was only fair that Marco was too. That was a little bit more difficult, though. He was wearing two.

I continued to tongue-wrestle him as I fidgeted with the over shirt. Being a button-up, it didn't take me that long to get it off. But to remove the white shirt beneath, I had to pull away, straddle his waist and lift it over his head.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he really enjoyed that.

Once we were both bare from the midriff and up, we returned to our little make-out fest. Marco's curious hands ran over my chest and he tweaked my nipples every now and then to see if he could egg me on and let out a moan. I held it in as long as I could, but I had to let it out. It flooded into his mouth and, in turn, I received one of my own.

The thought that this wasn't how I expected to spend my Saturday evening popped into my head, but I threw it aside and thought of what would happen if I messed with Marco's pants.

I had to continue to use the headboard as my personal holding bar so I didn't crush the boy beneath me. He writhed around and I felt his arching back push him against me. I responded with my own arched back, though mine was a somewhat U-shaped arch. Both of my legs slipped around his form and our hips rubbed together, forming a tingling sensation for me. I released a soft moan into his mouth, finally realizing that this activity was more needing of my heart than my brain.

Marco let me sink between his legs even further, and I felt the thin, yet strong appendages wrap around my own legs. Yep, this was exactly like the time on the couch. But we weren't shirtless then, and right now...It seemed more...loving than the other time. We were together, and that was all that mattered. I didn't even care if someone was going to walk in on us.

I noticed Marco's hands were fidgeting with the hem of my shorts. Relying more on his sense of touch than sight, considering our eyes were closed. First thing he did was pop the button, and then he unzipped the zipper. His legs, which had only briefly been wrapped around my legs, loosened up as he pushed the jean shorts down my waist. I wriggled my hips in compliance, all the while holding him in the kiss.

Once they had been put aside (with a nice kick from me), I tried to situate myself in a position where I'd be able to remove Marco's pants. Placing one leg on either side of him like I did before, I scooched down just a little bit. Our mouths were still connected, but now I was able to reach the hem of his pants.

I heard him make some sort of giggling noise, and even though it was hard not to make one myself, somehow I managed. I quickly unbuttoned his pants and unzipped them, then proceeded to tug them down and off of him. Throwing those into the growing pile of clothes, I pulled back from the kiss and opened my eyes. He also opened his eyes, and the both of us stared at one another with a mix of growing passion and, if I wasn't mistaken in reading it, love.

He was visibly flushed, as apparent by the warm shade of pink resting around his neck and in his cheeks. His chest was rising up and down with every deep breath he took, almost as if it was the first one he'd ever breathed in. I tried to snicker, but I was kind of panting myself, so it didn't come out very well.

Neither of us said anything, just looked at one another. He didn't have to tell me what he wanted. I just somehow...knew. Inexplicably. Readjusting my position, I slowly leaned down and attached my lips to the beginning of his jaw line.

At first I was surprised by how warm it actually was, but once I got used to it, I was all over the place. I lashed my tongue out against it and licked along his jaw line. I got a squirm and a squeal in response. Now I knew where he was ticklish. I followed an invisible trail from his jaw down to the nook between his neck and mandible, planting kisses along every piece of skin while I went. As hard as it was for Marco not to move around, he still wiggled about a bit.

I lifted myself from the moist skin and glanced up at him with a smirk. "Now I know how to tickle you."

He looked down at me with slightly glazed over eyes. I knew he liked it, but he didn't want me to know his 'weakness'. "Oooh, you're evil...but it feels to good to care."

I took that as the partial compliment it was meant to be and returned to the olive treat lying below me.

I somehow picked back up on the trail that I had left. Since I closed my eyes, I was going on my sense of touch, much like Marco had earlier. My lips led me to his collarbone, and I ran my tongue over it, nipping on it at times. I got a jump out of Marco each time I did it, too, which instigated me to continue it further.

My travels went further on, and I reached something you could say I had been expecting—Marco's nipple. I lifted my lips from his skin and hovered it above the hardened, darker patch of skin, breathing hot wafts of air onto it. Marco groaned out and arched his back, pushing himself into me. His hands were now running through my hair, tickling me. I tried my best to ignore it, but it caused me to shudder out. Perhaps he was doing it just to get a rise out of me, or maybe he did it because he knew that I'd breathe like that. Was he ever sneaky…

I lowered my mouth as painfully slow as possible to his nipple, and when I was within good enough distance, I released my tongue from my mouth and began to tease the nub. He cried out softly and tugged some on my hair. Though it kind of hurt, I continued on, moving closer and closer to the nipple before actually engulfing it within my mouth.

It was extremely hard, and yet soft and the same time. I swirled my tongue around it and tugged gently on it with my teeth. Not enough to hurt Marco, but enough to keep him on his toes. He massaged my scalp with his fingers unintentionally, and I could feel him throw his head back into the pillow. I suckled on the hardening piece of skin for what felt like ever while Marco writhed and twisted in pleasure.

After what I considered to be sufficiently enough 'torture' on what nipple, I released it from my grasp and traveled across his chest to the other, leaving a trail of wet kisses along the way. Marco released my head from his hands, moving them downward toward my back, where he raked his fingernails along the hot flesh. I moaned into his olive toned skin and repeated the process on his other nipple.

I lifted one of my hands and trailed the very tip of my index finger down the center of his body. He shivered, and I could feel goosebumps growing on his skin. My finger stopped just above his bellybutton, and I tapped it very lightly, signifying that I was going there next. His body tensed up in what I could only perceive as anticipation.

Removing the tweaked piece of hardened skin from my mouth, I moved to the middle of his chest and began to nuzzle my nose in between the growing pectoral muscles. The goosebumps were disappearing. I let out the occasional hot puff of air from my nose as I traveled downward to make Marco's skin tingle. His chest was beginning to rise and fall in a hasty manner, but I paid it no mind. I was too interested in reaching Marco's bellybutton.

I encountered the tiny dip just a few seconds later. There was something rough rubbing against my chin, which my mind wasn't able to identify at first. Once I started up my thinking again, I realized it was hair. Marco had a thin patch of hair growing from his bellybutton down to his crotch. Even though it was partially hidden by the waistband of his boxers, I was still able to formulate that. I kind of had the same thing going on, myself.

I kept myself hovering over Marcos' bellybutton, teasing him with cool breaths, then hot ones. He moaned weakly and thrust his hips upward, trying to get me to go lower. I let one of my hands run over the waistband, dipping in every so often. I opened my eyes and gazed up at Marco, only to realize he was practically burying his face in the pillow. When he realized I had stopped, he barely lifted his head from the pillow to look at me.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, my voice sort of husky, words laced with passion.

If he was able to glare at me, I assumed he would have. "Y-You know w-what."

There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to tease him further. I wanted him to tell me exactly what he wanted, just so I could hear the words come from his mouth. "Tell me."

"Y-You know..." he replied, trying to control his breathing.

I slowly tugged down his boxers with my hand, just enough to reveal the aching, throbbing erection hiding beneath. I lowered my mouth just slightly south and blew over its head. He cried out softly and closed his eyes.

"What should I do with this?" I purred, tracing the circumference of the pulsating tip with my finger.

I finally got him. "I want you to go down on me, Harvey. I want to feel your hot breath washing over my dick. I want you to graze your teeth over it and send me over the edge." He took a breath, giving me as best of a grin as he could. "And I want it now."

I grinned as well. "Well, I think I can do that."

Marco was all too obliging to shake his hips while I slid the boxers off of them. His hips thrust upward, the wonderful appendage finally free from its confines. I crawled down the bed just a little and positioned myself right above his erection. Using one hand to keep his legs in place and placing the other on his flat stomach for support, I parted my lips and took the head within my mouth after pulling down on the foreskin.

At first I felt kind of nauseous, because there had been a bit of pre-come pooling around at the top and that was the first thing I encountered. It tasted really weird. But I didn't let it discourage me, though, since Marco was waiting for this, and I wasn't going to deny him anything. I circled my tongue around the large, mushroomed shaped head, much to Marco's happiness. His moan filled my ears, sending a chill down my spine.

I parted my lips a little wider and slid my mouth down further. I moved at a slow pace, making sure that my tongue got every bit of skin there was. As I continued downward, I felt my gagging reflex come into the picture. I paused for a moment and focused on the area of his length that I was at. My tongue lavished the pulsating skin wildly, making Marco release more moaning sounds. I felt my muscles in my throat relax and I tested just how much further down I could travel. I got somewhere about halfway.

On my way back up, I brought my teeth into play and began to graze the warm, hard erection. I let out a growl and it vibrated hard against him. Marco grabbed my head in his hands and groped my hair weakly. I felt his body tense up and I moved with him as he arched his back.

"H-Harvey...O-Oh God..." he whined softly. He let out a pleasurable cry and returned to running his fingers through my hair.

I reached the tip of his length once again. My tongue was hastily lapping up anything that escaped the opening, thrilling every now and then against the head to make Marco cry out.

He moaned in pure ecstasy as I increased my pace, throwing all other foreplay-ish things aside and going for pure and simple sucking. I don't think my boy even noticed it. Every so often I would run my teeth over the length, and with the increased speed of my actions I didn't realize that Marco was getting close. Only when did I reach the head and assault it with my tongue did I feel the quick, growing-more-frequent pulses that shot threw him, telling me just how close he actually was.

"H-Harvey...I'm...I'm gonna..."

I heard him perfectly well. I wasn't able to plan out perfectly my actions, but I just continued on pleasuring him. I was curious to see what he tasted like, but I didn't want him to think me strange, so I pulled myself off of his length and scooted up close to him.

Not that I was face-to-face with Marco, I cupped his chin with one of my hands and made him look at me. He opened his eyes and I could tell he was waiting for it to happen. I kissed him deeply, grabbing his dick full on with my other hand. I squeezed it hard and stroked it fast, egging him on. I could tell it was near. He broke the kiss and closed his eyes tightly. I felt the pulses coursing through him. I watched intently as his whole body tensed itself up and sent all of its energy to his lower half.

It was something I can't describe. With each wave of pearly white seed his erection pumped out, it contracted. The look on his face was priceless. It was over just as fast as it arrived, and even though it was quick, it was something I'll never forget.

Both my hand and Marco's stomach were covered in his come. He was panting so heavily that I kind of grew worried. But when I listened to myself, I realized that things like that just happened when you did these kinds of activities. I slowly released his softening appendage from my hand, rubbing it on the bedspread. I didn't think Marco would really care.

I gently grabbed a hold of his face again and he rolled over (really slowly, I'll add) toward me. He instinctively curled himself up to me, his chocolate colored eyes opening just a little. He had a dazed expression on his face.

"I...Oh God...That...Harvey..."

Even though my hand was a little sticky, I ran my fingers through Marco's hair lovingly. He kissed my neck and collarbone gently and moved upward toward my face. He stopped when he reached my lips and stared into my eyes, smiling lazily.

The kiss that we shared wasn't one like the lusty kisses that we formed just a little bit earlier. It was passionate, yet sweet. It was long and deep. It was...just wonderful. When he pulled back, he rubbed his nose against mine.

"Eskimo kiss," he whispered.

I smiled. It was cute.

Marco slid downward just a bit and rested his face in the nook between my neck and collarbone. He was tired, I could tell. I pulled him close to me and placed a soft kiss on his head.

The next thing I happened to say was something I didn't think about. It just came out.

"I love you, Marco."

I hadn't even realized I had said it. I meant it to be said mentally. But Marco certainly heard it. He slowly pulled back so he was able to move and look me in the eyes. He brought my lips into a kiss and then grinned faintly upon pulling back.

"I was waiting for you to say that. I…love you, too."

I blinked. "W-Wait. I said that aloud?"

Well, I guess that answered my questions from earlier.

He nodded some. Then kissed me again. "Yeah, you did. And it was the perfect ending to this night. Corny as hell, but perfect."

"Well..." I felt like saying it again just so I knew it had actually been said. "I love you."

Marco grinned wider and gave me a slightly longer, deeper kiss. "I love you, too."

"Don't think I could get tired of hearing that."

"Me either."

"What are we going to do about this mess?"

He had placed himself back to where he was resting just a minute ago. "We can uh...just sleep without the extra blanket on my bed."

I smirked. "Good idea."

For a very brief moment, we broke apart. Marco wiped himself off with his blanket, then threw it on the large pile of clothes. I welcomed him back into his arms like we'd been separated for ages.

He yawned pretty loudly and placed a few more kisses along my collarbone once we'd resituated. I placed my chin atop Marco's matted hair and closed my eyes with a faint yawn.

"Good night, Marco."

He didn't say anything at first. He shifted just a little and then exhaled softly. "G'night, Harvey."

The night couldn't have been any better. A wonderful date with the guy I loved (It felt weird saying that, but I could get used to it), an event that marked Marco's and my care for one another, and now a peaceful sleep with him in my arms. Even though I didn't exactly get a whole of release from what happened, I was happy to know that Marco enjoyed it.

That was all I really needed to know in order to be happy myself.


	14. One Finds Out

**_Author's Notes: Haha. Fluff warning. Just thought you'd all want to know. Please R&R :)_**

* * *

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the body that was attached to me. My vision was fuzzy at first, but after everything cleared up, I saw Marco resting peacefully with his nose nuzzled into my neck. His soft breaths were tickling my skin and causing it to tighten up.

I let out a faint yawn and lifted the arm from around Marco's chest up to his hair, running my fingers through the soft, yet kind of coarse strands. He murmured softly and shifted against me. I think I woke him up.

"Morning," I said softly.

He smacked his lips together a few times, then lifted his head and just barely opened his eyes. That lazy grin/smile that he gave me was absolutely beautiful. "Mm…Morning." His head slowly fell to the pillow, though his eyes stayed on me.

"Sleep well?"

He nodded just a little and yawned. "Just great."

"That's good to hear."

One of my arms was stuck beneath Marco's back, but I chose to just leave it there for the moment being. He rolled back over toward me a few seconds later and kissed my chin.

"Kind of wish it wasn't Sunday," he sighed.

"Me too. But that doesn't mean it can't be a good day."

He chuckled softly. "Too optimistic."

I smiled a little, pulling him closer with my arm. "Maybe it's just my company."

Both of us fell silent for a while. We basked in the warm light that was pouring in from Marco's window, and, although I don't know how, I managed to lose my boxers in the process of sleeping. So, the both of us were as naked as could be, lying on top of his covers. But it didn't matter—we were too happy to care.

"You know," Marco began, sounding more awake than before, "I don't think I've ever really had a morning in a long time where I woke up not worrying."

I knew very well what Marco meant. Every morning he had to worry about the Yeerks; about the possibility of his father being taken; even about the possibility of being taken, himself. There were so many things that I had to worry about now as well, but I hadn't even thought of them until Marco brought it up.

"You know, I think you're right. Neither have I."

"It's been a couple of weeks since you've joined the fight, hasn't it?" Marco traced shapes over the expanse of my chest with his finger idly while he spoke, eyes still locked on me.

"Yeah, I guess it has been. Doesn't seem like it, though." My fingers were drumming on his hip.

He shivered some and glanced around for a moment before looking back at me. "I'm kind of cold."

I hadn't noticed the low humming of the air conditioner. It had turned itself off during the night, I guess, but I didn't notice because of Marco's and my body heat. It must have turned itself on again. I reached for the blanket resting over the sleeping bag just at the foot of the bed that I used when I slept on the floor. Draping it over Marco and myself, I brought him close to me and nuzzled my face in the crook of his neck.

He laughed a little and twisted his head around, pushing me away with his hand on my chest to try and get me to stop.

"S-Stop it! You know that tickles..."

I smirked and gently nipped at the sensitive skin, suckling on it. He finally gave up on trying to stop me and just went for revenge, using his hands to tickle my sides.

I had to give in, because I couldn't handle it anymore. Snickering, I grabbed a hold of his arms and rolled on top of him.

"I don't think it's fair that you're bigger than me," he said with a fake pout.

I stole a kiss from him and then looked into his eyes with a grin. "Aw, you're just angry because I know how to get you to stop."

He wriggled beneath me in an attempt to make me let go of his arms. Sadly, it worked, and I fell atop him. Marco smirked and tried to roll _me_ over, but it didn't work out too well.

"You gotta get a bit more muscle before you try that again," I teased.

He let out a slightly frustrated noise and gave up, content with me atop him. His head shot up and he grabbed a hold of my bottom lip with his teeth.

"Feeling playful this morning?" I asked him, letting my head be slowly pulled downward toward his.

He nodded and eventually let go, only to bring my lips into an actual kiss. It was much like the one that we shared before we went to bed last night. In fact, we sort of assumed the positions that we were in the night before, but not to a terribly alike degree.

"At this rate, we'll never get up and about," I said between the quick kisses we shared.

Marco's arms wrapped around my waist and he grinned wickedly. "Ah, I don't care. Screw getting up."

I smirked and dove my head down, latching my lips onto Marco's ear. He let out a both surprised and excited grunt, turning his head so I had better access. I ran my tongue over the warm skin, nipping at the upper part of his earlobe. And just as soon as I had started, I stopped, pulling back and staring into his eyes with a mischievous glint in my own.

Marco slid his arms up by back and wrapped them around my neck, pulling my face not even an inch from his. Smirking wildly, he ran his tongue over my lips.

"You're just asking for it," he whispered.

"I might just be," I responded, pressing my body against his and grinding our hips together.

Even though the mood was set and the both of us knew what we wanted to do, Marco tried to squirm out from beneath me.

"If we're uh, gonna do anything, I need to go and raid my dad's dresser drawer..."

I blushed. The thought that Marco and I were...that the two of us just may...All I did was grin stupidly and slip off of him so he could cross the hall and venture into his dad's room at the end of the way.

As he got out of the bed, I grasped his arm. He paused and leaned over, kissing me.

"Now you can go," I said with a snicker.

"Have you seen my boxers?" he asked sheepishly.

I pointed out that they were probably in the pile of strewn clothes from the night before. And, as I suggested, there they were. The only reason he put them on was because there was a window at the end of the hall and he didn't want anyone seeing him naked darting into his father's bedroom. Just a little suspicious that'd be.

I sat up in the bed and wrapped the blanket around me while I waited. I could hear Marco's footsteps running down the hallway, but then I heard something else that made my heart sink.

"The door!" Marco exclaimed in surprise. He hurried back into his room and looked around for his shirt. After finding it, he threw me the protection that he retrieved from his dad's room. "Hide that and get downstairs as fast as you can!" he hissed at me.

I practically threw myself out of the bed and onto the pile of clothes. After finding my boxers, shorts and shirt, I hastily put them on and stumbled down the stairs just in time to meet Jake's eyes.

"We've got to talk," he said.

The four worst words for anyone to hear in the English language. My already racing heart, if it was at all possible, increased its pace as I made my way to the couch.

"What is it?" Marco asked, trying to sound sleepy.

Jake was completely dressed and looked like he had been up for hours. What time was it, though?

"Jake, it's only nine. What are you doing here so early?"

Thanks, Marco.

"It's nothing bad. I just wanted to let you guys know that Tom showed up back home around two o'clock this morning. And Derrick was with him."

"Wait, two o'clock?" I blurted out. "That's really early. And really suspicious. Wouldn't your parents be, like, annoyed?"

"Well, that's what I thought," Jake said. "But they assumed that since that whole 'outing' thing with The Sharing was actually real, they thought nothing of it. When we were eating breakfast this morning, my mom asked Tom why he came back so early and Tom said it was because they got sidetracked on their way back home. They weren't even supposed to get home until this evening! And she believed him!"

"So why're you freaking out over it?" Marco asked.

"Because it's just so strange. I don't know why my parents believed him. I mean, the Yeerks have been making slip-ups for a while now. And their covers aren't as good as they used to be. Am I the only one who thinks there's something going on in their works right now that we should try and find out about?" Jake sighed heavily and folded his arms over his chest.

"We already went into the YMCA and ruined that whole plan," I explained. "The Yeerks know we're onto them. If they're gonna do anything else, it won't be for a bit. They want us off their tails."

"You know what? Forget it." Jake, who had originally been pacing back and forth in front of the kitchen counter, headed for the door. "I'm just paranoid or something. Just go back to whatever it was the two of you were doing. Sorry if my rambling got in the middle of something important."

I looked at Marco just as the exact same time he looked at me. Then I looked at Jake.

"What're you talking about?"

"You can't think I'm that stupid, honestly," he said flatly. "You and Marco...You guys are together, aren't you?"

Marco sighed softly and continued to look at me. Apparently the cat was out of the bag, and I was right on the dot with Jake knowing. Couldn't hide it anymore.

We both nodded at the same time in response to his question.

He smiled faintly. All of that annoyance that he seemed to have with the Yeerks disappeared. Or he hid it, at least.

"How'd you know?" Marco asked.

"Do you really want to know?" Jake retorted.

"Actually, I'm kind of curious, myself," I said. "Because when you asked if Marco and I wanted to go on a date with you and Cassie..."

Jake blinked, but he didn't say anything to ruin his cover. If our secret was known, then I was going to make sure that Marco knew about him and Tobias. It was only fair. God, I sound like a five year old with all this fairness junk. But believe me, I felt righteous in it.

"Well, we all know Tobias kind of flies around at night and checks up on us?"

We nodded.

He chuckled. "Marco, you really need to start using your blinds more often. You and Harvey sleeping together in the same bed is kind of...suspicious. Tobias told me about it when he came to check on me at my house."

Perfect time to throw in my share of secrets. "Just to check up on you?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah, why would he do anything else?"

"Well..." I decided to try and quote from the night before so I could make Jake realize I knew. " 'With Tom gone you might be able to stay longer. Maybe we can...you know...' "

His eyes widened some. He knew he was caught. But before either of us could say anything, Marco jumped in with a few words of his own.

"Dude! You and Tobias? Whoa!"

Jake bit his lower lip and looked at me. "So you heard us."

I nodded. "Yeah. I was coming downstairs for something to eat but I stopped when I heard you and Tobias talking. I know it was kind of violating your privacy, but it would have been worse if I just came waltzing down the stairs, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "Guess you're right."

Meanwhile, Marco was still ranting in surprise about the whole Jake and Tobias thing. "Oh man! I didn't even think of it! Jake! You and Tobias! Wow! What's Cassie got to say about this?"

I kept quiet since I already knew what was going on. Since Marco was really the only one in the dark, it'd be easier to explain. Just one set of questions instead of two.

Jake sighed one of those "This-is-gonna-take-a-long-time" sighs and leaned against the front door. "Well...Cassie already knows. She's known for a while. She cares about me a lot, as you already know, and she said that she would be my...well, pretend girlfriend/supposed girlfriend while Tobias and I are together. This way it keeps people off of our backs. And since Tobias still hangs out with Rachel, she suspects nothing. It all kind of relies on Cassie, if you think about it. Both girls that Tobias and I care about are in jeopardy of being hurt by our relationship, and since Cassie has already accepted it, that leaves just Rachel. And Ax knows nothing either."

"So basically, Tobias and Jake are like you and me. Except we don't have Cassie keeping our secret. Instead, it's Jake and Tobias themselves," I said, trying to sum it all up.

"Big Jake, you know I stand by you on all decisions, but..." Marco frowned a little and cleared his throat. "Do you really think it's smart having Cassie hold all of this in? I mean, what happens if she loses it like she did with the whole Karen ordeal? We can't have her spilling this stuff out at a vital moment. Like in battle, you know?"

"Cassie promised me that she could handle it. And I believe her. That's all I need to know to keep myself from growing worried."

"Like I said, Jake, I stand by you. But still..." his face sort of lit up. "You and Tobias! I never would have thought it."

"Never would have thought of you and Harvey," Jake said.

"Did ya hear that, Harv?" Marco said with a hint of pride in his voice, "Never would've thought it."

When Marco went into the kitchen to get something to eat, I invited Jake to sit next to me on the couch. He joined me and began to twiddle his thumbs.

"You did think it, didn't you?" I asked in a low voice.

He replied by bobbing his head, almost like he was listening to music.

"So how long have you and Tobias been together?" I asked.

Jake's face seemed to light up at the mentioning of Tobias. "Quite a while, actually. If, uh...I'm not mistaken, it'll be about a year...this upcoming Friday?"

I blinked in disbelief. "That long? Really? Wow..." A light chuckle escaped me. "So you guys have probably..."

"Yeah," he said, cutting me off. "And I know that since you heard us downstairs the other night, then...you know..."

Even though I had no real reason for doing it (that I knew of, anyway), I blushed. Maybe because it was such a strange subject. Me and Jake talking about sex. Who would have thought.

"So have you and Marco..?"

I coughed. "Er…well…we kind of were gonna..."

Jake caught on. "Oh damn. I...didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

I didn't want to say that he did, so I just stayed quiet.

Before Jake could apologize, Marco dropped himself onto the third cushion of the couch. "Man…you and Tobias."

"Are you still going on about that?" Jake asked.

"I just think it's kind of cute. You, mister protective and heroic with bully-magnet, in-need-of-care Tobias. Match made in heaven."

Jake play-hit Marco in the shoulder and chuckled. "You're such a freak, sometimes."

"You know it," Marco said with a grin.

Jake glanced at me and then looked at the door. "Well, uh, I oughta get going. There's some chores I skipped over this weekend to study for my test."

I smiled some at Jake and stood up when he did. While Jake went to the door, I wandered into the kitchen. Marco stayed on the couch, sprawling himself out over the length of it.

"See you at school on Monday, Big Jake," Marco said. "And your secret's safe with us. If we can trust ours with you?"

"Marco, you should know me better than that," Jake said. "I am your best friend after all."

"That's exactly why I ask," Marco replied with a smirk in his friend's direction.

"You two are so weird sometimes," I commented. They both gave me a grin and Jake opened the door.

"I'll leave you guys to whatever it was you were doing, then."

Marco blinked and turned to look at his front door to offer Jake a goodbye.

"Later Jake," I said with a wave.

"Later, guys."

And then he left.

With my bottle of water, I made my way back to the couch. Marco pulled his legs toward his body just enough to where I could sit down, but as soon as I did he draped them both over my lap.

"I'm not the couch, you know," I said, kind of surprised.

"Well, I could always put my head there."

"I'd prefer it over your feet."

We both looked at each other with interest. But it wasn't as strong as it was about a half-hour ago before Jake came around. I took a swig of water and dropped the bottle beside the couch onto the carpet before sighing some.

"The feeling's kind of gone now, isn't it?"

He nodded sadly. "I think it's because Jake popped in."

I gave Marco a smirk. "Oh wow, so perceptive."

Reaching behind him, he grabbed a pillow at threw it at me. "Don't need to be sarcastic about it."

I held the pillow close to me and placed it under my chin. "What do you want to do today?"

"I was sort of hoping that we would be able to continue our little, uh, morning activity we had going, but now...I don't know. Maybe go catch Jake before he gets too far and ask him if he wants to hang out?"

"He said he had some chores he blew off. Besides, he might want to be alone with Tobias later."

Marco snickered. "I could say something about that, but I think I'll just keep quiet."

I didn't get it at first, but when I did, I threw the pillow back in his direction. "Oh my god! Marco! You're sick!"

"Oh you know you like it!"

The look I gave him was one of those "Oh yeah?" ones. "I daresay that it'd be you who like it. Because having gotten it your—"

Marco cut me off by crawling over the space between us and placing himself atop of me. I looked up at him and wiggled my tongue at him. I meant it only as a playful gesture, but he took it a different way and captured it within his mouth.

My lips curled into a smirk as I placed my hands on either side of Marco's face, bringing him close to me. He continued to gently play with my tongue, entwining his own with mine every so often. When he pulled back, his eyes had retrieved that mischievous glint they had not even an hour earlier. I slowly turned his head and brought his ear close to my mouth.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Marco?" I whispered.

He didn't nod, but I knew what his answer was. Upon sitting up, Marco grasped a hold of my hand and rubbed it against his smooth cheek.

"Let's go upstairs."

And I was far from being stupid enough to disagree with that. I stood when Marco did, and with him in the lead, we made our way back upstairs into his room.


	15. I'll Never Forget

_**Author's Notes: As stated in chapter 13, this chapter has sexual relations occurring between Harvey and Marco. This one is a full blown scene, so if you're under age, please do not read. Otherwise, please enjoy at your leisure! And don't forget to read and review. :)**_

* * *

While I made sure the door was locked securely, Marco hopped on the bed with kid-like anticipation. I turned around with my hand palming the doorknob and grinned at him.

"So we're actually gonna...do it?" he asked, sounding both excited and slightly nervous.

I nodded, pointing to the blinds. "Make sure those are closed."

"We gonna do any repeats of the night before?" Marco's eyes were glittering.

I gave him a shrug, which sort of annoyed him. He wanted to know, that was for sure. He fidgeted with the shades and made sure they were completely shut, causing the light that had been flooding through to dim greatly.

Marco extended his hand and I took it, which he proceeded to tug me toward his bed. I stumbled some and fell onto the soft surface and the smirk on his face glowed above me.

"Get down here and kiss me," I said in a cheesy tone, grabbing his neck and pulling him down to me.

He crawled atop my form and pressed himself against me with a grin the whole way down. Our lips met in what would mark the beginning of one of the soon to be biggest memories of our lives.

His long, slim fingers went to work on removing my shirt and tossing it aside while my own did the same. Soon after the removal of our upper body clothing, we hastily proceeded to removing the lower body clothing, all the while our lips stayed connected. The only difference, and not that I was complaining or anything, was that I was on the bottom and Marco was on the top.

But it seemed to annoy him just a little. Pulling away from the kiss with a pant, he wrinkled up his nose. "Can we switch?"

"Don't like being in charge?" I asked with a smirk.

He shook his head, an utterly submissive air about him appearing. I'm not sure where it came from, but it wasn't entirely unwelcome. "I want you to be."

I offered a shrug and rolled over to the side when he moved off of me. I quickly rolled back over and met once again with Marco's warm, inviting skin. His hands, slightly squished between our bodies, began exploring the expanse of my chest. I recaptured his lips with my own and began to chew some on his lower one, much to his enjoyment. At least this way the two of us could tell what the other liked, considering the bulging pair of growths brushing against each other.

Marco moaned into my mouth when my hand slid down his side and headed for his stomach. With the little nails I had (I bit them occasionally), I scraped his skin gently. I received a very pleasured squeal from him in response.

He broke the kiss when I accidentally scraped him a little too hard. I opened my eyes upon hearing the hiss that he let out. It was followed by a strange sort of fluttered breath.

"You okay?" I asked.

He nodded, his eyes rolling into the back of his head for a second. He had pulled his lower lip into his mouth, chewing on it. "Y-Yeah. Just fine."

"If you say so," I said, slightly doubtful. I glanced down at the place where I'd scratched him and the tan skin was red. But, if Marco said he was okay, I believed him. I was a bit more cautious when I started kissing him again, but soon I forgot about it all, as I became lost in the moment.

Marco was teasing me with his tongue by bringing it out of his mouth and running it over my lips. Every time I attempted to catch it, he pulled it back in and closed his lips. There was one time I managed to finally capture it, and when I did, he giggled. His body shook against mine and took my attention away from the hands traveling down my stomach to my lower half.

I was just about to let his tongue go when I finally noticed the hands wrapping around my growing length. Before I knew it, Marco squeezed, sending a jolt through my body. I let go of his tongue and my eyes opened. His already were.

"You're sneaky."

Just a grin from him. "You know it."

After a kiss, I returned the facial expression. "I like it."

He squeezed again and my eyelids fluttered, which made him snicker. So I decided to be sneaky myself.

But I wasn't so subtle about it.

I brought one of my hands downward and wrapped my fingers around the base of his erection, then tugged upward. He took in a sharp breath and squeezed me, which brought forth another tug. After about five tugs and squeezes later, Marco finally let go, but only on the condition that I would. The funny part about it was, though, that neither of us let go until we counted down on it.

We shared yet another kiss, but it was brief, and my adventure downward began.

I planted soft love bites along Marco's jaw and went toward his neck. I started out nice and easy, just nibbling on the skin with my lips. Shortly after I graduated to using my teeth, and by mistake, I bit a little too hard.

Some sort of cry of both pleasure and pain erupted from Marco. I felt his body writhe beneath me and his nails dug into the skin of my back. It didn't hurt too much, but I was surprised by the response.

I decided not to say anything this time.

Instead, I bit him again. Just as hard as I did last time. I got almost the same reaction, only this time it was a little stronger. The nails digging into my skin did hurt this time around, and the cry sounded more pleasured. His head was pushed into the pillow and his dark eyes were closed tightly.

Marco liked it. He liked the rough bite. I knew there was a word for it, but it wasn't exactly right there in front of me. I shrugged it off and moved down to his collarbone. Instead of being nice and sweet about it, I continued my experiment of being rough and used more of my teeth than my lips. They grazed over his hot flesh and traveled downward toward his chest.

It was like I was seeing a new side to Marco. He had originally been slightly quiet and moaned only when I tickled a nerve, but the way he was acting now was really arousing. His body was squirming, his breaths short and husky. Every time my teeth ended up hurting him, he would cry out even louder in happiness. There were red spots all over his neck and clavicle bone line from where I'd come close to popping open the skin.

"H-Harvey!" he moaned out, arching his back as my tongue dipped into his navel.

His hands were raking up and down my back. I was lucky that his nails were shorter than mine, and even though they hurt, I was growing used to the feeling. I know it was weird to say, but if pain was what made Marco happy, I was only happy to oblige to it.

I had a different agenda this time. The protection that Marco stole from his dad's drawer? I didn't know where it was, but I was going to need it. I lifted my head up and crawled back up beside Marco. One of my hands snaked around his throbbing erection, beginning to stroke it.

"Marco," I whispered into his ear. "Marco, look at me."

He craned his neck and looked into my eyes, his own hazy and filled with something I couldn't quite put my finger on. But when I saw that charismatic grin, I knew what it meant. I didn't even have to ask him.

"I think it's on my nightstand."

Good thing I was on that side. Rolling over, I glanced in the nightstand's direction, and surely enough, that's where it was, wrapped in its nice, square, electric blue plastic. I reached for it, feeling my heart jump into my throat afterward. I rolled back around and looked lovingly into Marco's eyes.

"So we're actually going to do it..."

The grin took up nearly his whole face. I couldn't help but laugh and he couldn't help but continue grinning. "Yeah, we are. D-Does that work for you? The size, I mean?"

I looked down at the condom with sheer curiosity. It just said "One sizes fits all: extra lubricated and ribbed for her pleasure" on it.

"Weird," I commented.

He took it from me and read over it. "It should work, right?"

"It better."

"So do you want to...or should I?" Marco extended the little blue square in my direction.

A smirk played my face. "Why don't you do it?"

He gave me a wry smile and began to try and open it. With one tug, the package split in half and out fell the contents.

For a moment we both stared at it, just lying there between us.

"It might lose that lube stuff if we let it stay there for too long," I said.

He agreed and carefully picked it up with his thumb and index finger. He seemed almost grossed out by it. I kind of did myself.

It was all squished and stuck together. Marco flicked his wrist and, kind of like a scroll (or whatever those rolled up sheets of papers are called), the condom fluttered open and downward. It made us both laugh some.

I glanced down between my legs and then smiled sheepishly. "Well, uh...It's ready?"

I suppose I wouldn't have said that if I knew what the thing felt like. When Marco placed the opening over the tip of me, I shuddered some. It was freezing cold. And the further it went down, the colder it got. Upon reaching the base, I let out a cool and sharp breath.

"I can't imagine how people stand these things. They're freakin' cold."

He snickered. "Well, it has been in my dad's room, and his room is always cold. Maybe that's why."

I shook my head some and shrugged. "Who knows."

Since neither of us really knew what we were doing, we thought of the way normal sex took place. You know, one on top and one on bottom. So, Marco lied down on the bed and I situated myself in front of him.

"Lift your legs up," I said.

He did and I carefully placed them on my shoulders. I instantly found myself directly in place for where I needed to go, and my body almost seemed to know what it wanted to do. Kind of like it was running on its own program and I was just there to watch or something.

Marco stared up at me with both an eager and kind of nervous smile. I rubbed his thigh some and glanced down between his legs.

I was certainly there, just not inside. I wasn't scared or confused, but I was kind of worried. I didn't want to hurt him at all. It wasn't supposed to, was it?

With one of my hands, I grabbed a hold of myself and backed up just a little. I placed my erection right next to his butt and slowly pushed forward.

At first I was surprised. It was a tight fit. Kind of like trying to fit your foot in a shoe two sizes too small. Marco hissed just a little and pushed his head into the pillow. Well, at least I was inside this time.

After I had pushed myself in far enough that I didn't need to use my hand, I placed the both of them on either of Marco's hips so I could keep some control over my actions. I pressed my hips closer and closer to Marco in a slow pace until finally I was totally inside him.

He didn't scream or make any sort of pained cry. But he was biting his lip really hard and his eyes were closed. Before I went any further, I nuzzled the side of his knee with my cheek.

"Are you doing okay?" I asked softly.

He nodded and opened his eyes. "It's a little painful, but I can handle it. Just...don't go too fast, okay?"

"Okay. I promise. Just tell me when it gets to be too much."

Marco nodded again and continued to chew on his lip.

Just as slowly as I had gone in, I began to pull out. I felt each and every one of his muscles contracting and squeezing around me, which caused my body to spasm. It felt so good, yet I knew it was because Marco's body wasn't used to this intrusion. I tried to throw that thought away and focus on what I was doing.

"I'm going to go back in now," I told him.

He said not a word, just smiled. Part of me thought that he knew it was going to hurt and he accepted it, but then another thought that he wanted it to. I was confused by the whole concept of it, but I just pushed myself inward once again, drowning the ideas with the heavenly sounds of Marco's voice filling my ears.

Marco's hands were clutching the bedspread around us. Not tightly, but enough to show that he wasn't exactly comfortable. I hoped it would get better soon.

My pace, without my really knowing it, had grown slightly faster the second time in. I reached the end of the path inside him just a little sooner than I had the first time. I paused to look down at him.

He was smiling up at me. It was a bit strained, but from the ways his muscles were contracting, I could tell his body was getting somewhat used to it.

"Does it hurt?" I asked worriedly.

He nodded, but then waved a hand dismissively. "A bit, but don't stop, or otherwise it'll hurt worse, I think."

I just decided to go along with that. I didn't want to tell him that it felt really, really good doing this, because it probably wasn't too nice for him. Maybe it'd get better soon. I wasn't really sure.

"Pulling out again," I announced softly.

I pulled out faster than I had the time before. And this time, instead of announcing that I was moving in, I just did it. Quicker, too. He cried out a little, but when I stopped he shook his head and motioned for me to keep going. So I did, and went in as far as I could go.

Marco gasped and his eyes fluttered. I stopped immediately and looked at him, but whereas I expected a pained look on his face, I caught the exact opposite. He began to breathe slightly faster.

"God," Marco said breathlessly. "Y-You hit something. I don't know what, but it felt damn good." He glanced up at me with a grin. "Do it again?"

"I don't know what I hit," I confessed. "But I'll see what I can do."

I removed myself almost completely from Marco's body and thrust inward in one full movement. He let out a cry of pleasure and threw his head into the pillow.

"Do it again!" he exclaimed.

And so began my onslaught of fast, quick thrusts. Each and every time I went in, I traveled as deep as I could, receiving a moan or cry from Marco each time. Kind of like a little prize. With each subsequent thrust, I increased the tempo, and Marco's hips began to slowly press downward onto me. We created a sort of rhythm, me pushing up with him pushing down.

I made sure to keep my eyes open. Marco had his shut and was writhing beneath me, looking halfway between hurt and extremely excited. It was hard to explain.

Our chests were both heaving because of our rapid intake of breaths. The heat from our bodies was filling the room and sweat dripped from my forehead. I didn't even notice how flushed I was. All I noticed was the way Marco's muscles clenched around me as I invaded his body.

Every other sound out of him was a grunt or moan, which egged me on further. I was pushing into him and he was enjoying every minute of it. I felt the same pulses flood through my body that I felt when I went down on Marco, which told me that I was getting close to releasing. So I hastened my pace, which sent Marco closer to the edge. He took himself in his hand and began to stroke furiously, almost in tune with my thrusts. I made them a bit more random so as to confuse him. I don't think he noticed.

The pulses of pleasure soon turned into flashes. I was getting them with every thrust, and I knew I couldn't hold back much longer. But Marco didn't last as long as I did. I nearly yelled out in pure ecstasy as I felt his muscles nearly squeeze the life out of my aching erection. His head was surrounded by pillow and his lower lip had a cut in it from where he'd bit it, and it was bleeding freely. He covered his lower stomach and hand with his come.

Of course, seeing this drove me even closer to my own threshold. I pulled out and pushed inward one final time before my whole body succumbed to the overwhelming sensation that had built up in my body. As tense as ever, I threw my head back and cried out, filling Marco with my own seed. Well, the condom _in _Marco. My eyes, which had closed in the process, saw white for a moment, and I drowned in the sea of pleasure. The clenched muscles that surrounded me brought me to a world that I had never been, and wished I could have stayed at longer. But, the incredible feeling only lasted for a short period of time. Not to mention it stole a lot of my energy. I weakly pulled out of Marco and collapsed on top of him.

Both of us had to wait about a minute before we could even move. The first thing I did was remove the condom from my soft appendage, tossing it into the nearby garbage. Marco reached over and grabbed a dirty towel from the floor. I was too exhausted to really say anything about it.

He wiped himself off as best he could and handed me the cleaner end of the towel. I did the same and tossed it across the room. It only got about half a foot. I was sort of ashamed it went only that far.

I crawled up beside him in the bed and nibbled on his earlobe. He snickered and squirmed, trying to push me away. It tickled him terribly.

"Stop..." he whined softly. "You know that t-tickles..."

"That's what I'm trying to do," I explained.

He finally got me to stop, and moved in close to me, curling up. I wrapped one of my arms around him and nuzzled my face into his hair with a grin.

"I'm really, really sore," he admitted after a few minutes of silence.

I rubbed his shoulder. Like that was any real consolation, but hey, it made me feel slightly less guilty for putting him through that. "I heard that things like that get better in time and don't hurt as bad."

"I think they call that being 'loose', Harvey."

We both snickered. Both yawned, too. Words had failed us after Marco spoke, and we were content with just letting our hands explore each other's bodies. Marco had eventually drifted off to sleep, and I didn't fall far behind.


	16. Another Plan

_**Author's Notes: A little bit of dramatics in this chapter, but nothing too big. Also, I was right. The storyline is right around 30-35. Actually, more accurately, 32-34, if I'm not mistaken. So please enjoy and don't forget to review! :D**_

* * *

I awoke to the sounds of someone moving around downstairs. At first they didn't really bother me, since I assumed it was just Marco. But when I looked beside me and noticed him sleeping peacefully, my heart jumped. Marco's dad was home.

"What time is it?" I asked myself, glancing at the clock. It was around four in the afternoon. Did we really sleep that long? It couldn't have been. Then I heard a voice downstairs calling out Marco's name. It was muffled by his closed door, but I could still identify it.

"Marco? Marco, are you home?"

I began to shake Marco until he woke up. Rather angry about it, he looked at me with a half sleepy, half-annoyed frown.

"What...?"

"Your dad is home!"

Suddenly he wasn't so tired anymore. He shot up in the bed and stared at the door.

"You in your room, buddy?"

"Oh shit!" Marco exclaimed. He motioned for me to hide in the closet, which was kind of insulting, but I did it anyway. He picked up a pair of his shorts and the button up shirt, quickly putting them on, practically throwing himself into his desk chair.

Just as I closed the door and Marco finished buttoning up, his dad knocked, then waited a second before walking in.

"Hey. We got back a little earlier than planned. Did you take a nap?"

Apparently Marco hadn't gotten all the sleep out of his eyes yet. He shook his head and grabbed the first book he saw. "Uh, no, no. Just catching up on some reading."

"No wonder you look tired," his dad joked.

"Funny, dad."

"Hey listen. Do you want to come out to dinner with Nora and me tonight? I bet you already had plans and all, but I just wanted to see if you'd like to go. We're going to that fancy restaurant downtown."

I couldn't see anything through the door, but I could hear. I think, though, that Marco shook his head, because he followed up with, "Nah, that's okay. I've got a lot of homework I have to do anyway. I put it off all weekend, but I can't really put it off any longer."

"Ah, well, that's fine. Just thought I'd ask." Was that disappointment I heard in his voice? After a pause, he continued. "Hey, where's your friend Harvey? Did he go home already?"

"Uh...Harvey's in the bathroom," Marco lied. "We had tacos last night."

Thanks, Marco.

"Oh, he is? I didn't hear him. Well, I guess I'll leave you to your homework. I've got some paperwork I have to do, so I'll be occupying the kitchen table downstairs. I'll leave some money so you can get pizza or something for dinner."

"Thanks, dad," Marco said. "Have fun tonight!"

"I will, Marco. Thanks."

Then I heard the door shut and he was gone. Naked as a jaybird, I shot out of Marco's closet and dove for my clothes.

"That was a real close one," he told me in a rather serious voice.

"You're telling me," I muttered, pulling the shirt on over my head. "In the bathroom? Jeez, make me sound like I can't hold my food or something."

"I couldn't think! It was the first thing I saw, okay?" Marco pouted.

I sighed and walked over to his desk, slipping my arms around him from behind. He still sort of frowned, but when I nibbled on his ear, it disappeared.

"We need to be careful now that my dad's home," he said softly. "Maybe you should, uh, go home." I was a little disappointed, but then he managed to make that go away when he added, "I don't think I'll be able to keep my hands off of you. No need to be suspicious about it."

"I guess you're right," I said. "Will I see you tomorrow, then?"

"Of course you will," Marco replied. "School and all, you know."

I chuckled and began to gather up my things. "Yeah. Then...until tomorrow."

He got up and walked with me to his door. "You didn't expect me to let you walk off without getting a kiss, did you?"

I eyed the door before wrapping my arms around Marco's waist. My shoes were still downstairs, so we were closer to eye level. I leaned forward and brought his lips into a deep, loving kiss, smiling some in the process. When I pulled back, I was grinning like an idiot.

"I love you," I said.

"I love you too," he told me. He was also grinning like an idiot.

I threw my bag over my shoulder, squeezed his hand gently, then took my leave.

. . .

School was the same old hell it normally was. We didn't do anything different in any of my classes, and it felt like I'd fallen into a slump. The week sort of flew by, though, and before I knew it, it was Thursday. I'd been going to my tennis practices every day after school like I normally did, and I hadn't really seen Marco any other time than in History. It wasn't exactly what I wanted.

I was on my way home from practice that afternoon, minding my own business. My eyes wandered over the sky far away, and I nearly jumped up in surprise when I heard a voice in my head.

((Harvey!)) It was Tobias. ((Hurry and get to Cassie's barn.))

I couldn't respond, but I tried to signal as to why I needed to get going there. I think Tobias got it.

((I called a meeting because of some things I saw when patrolling around today.))

I gave a faint nod and hurried my pace. I had to go home first and drop off my stuff, and give a quick lie to my mom. I told her I was going over to Aaron's to study. She said to be home by dinner, so that was fine with me. Gave me two hours.

I dropped off all of my stuff and wandered down to the grove near my house. The same cover we'd used when we followed Tom and Derrick. I went in pretty far, just to make sure no one could see me.

Then I morphed raven and flew on out to Cassie's barn.

. . .

I arrived in half the time it would have taken me to get there by bus. Cassie's dad was out, and her mom was still at work. It gave us a little bit of time, but that was all we really needed.

We were all in our usual spots. Marco and I sat on some hay and Rachel sat beside us. Jake was sitting near Cassie, who was trying to catch a shrew that was running around in its cage. Ax was in his Andalite form, which I had grown used to. Tobias was hanging out in the rafters like he normally did.

"So what is this important info, Tobias?" Jake asked.

((Well, I was flying around like I normally do, and I went to check up on the YMCA to see if anything was happening there. I morphed my human form and took a little waltz around the place.))

"Wait, don't you have to pay to get in there?" Rachel asked.

Jake blinked. "Hey, wait, yeah. How'd you get in there without them noticing you?"

Tobias laughed some. ((Uh, well, let's just say they had a slight bug infestation for a short period of time.))

"Interesting," Marco said. "Bird-boy morphing bugs to sneak into places. Why can't we do that?"

((People know you,)) Tobias said, sounding almost a little pained. ((So if you just suddenly appear without paying, I think it'd arouse suspicion. I can get away with it because I'm hardly recognizable.))

"Well, that works," Marco said.

((Anyway,)) Tobias continued on, ((I saw some of The Sharing pamphlets in the main hall. There aren't very many, but they're still there.))

"Damn it," Jake groaned. "And you'd think the Yeerks wouldn't be stupid enough to do that. Do they need another thrashing?"

"Maybe they're just trying to distract us," Cassie suggested.

"They've done enough distracting," Rachel said flatly. "We don't need any more distractions."

"I'm thinking they're doing two things at once this time," Marco said, sounding serious. "Maybe that's their plan: do two things at once so the Andalite bandits get confused. While they try to stop one, the other plan goes on without a hitch."

((That very well could be the case,)) Ax stated. Sounding rather snide, he added, ((If the Yeerks were that intelligent.))

"We know that they're up to something, at least," I said. "And it has to do with taking over companies so that they can publicize The Sharing more. But I thought Visser Three didn't want to go on with the YMCA project."

"Just because we managed to get in a fight doesn't mean they're going to stop," Jake said. "We know that the head of this division of the YMCA is already a Controller. Which means he's going to continue to make The Sharing look like the best thing in the world."

"Maybe we should just capture the idiot and starve the Yeerk in his head," Rachel said.

"If I wasn't sure the Yeerks would just re-infest him, and the fact that he'd probably go screaming to the world that aliens were here, I would think that was the best plan we have so far."

((Then what do you suggest we do, Prince Jake?)) Ax asked.

"Don't call me 'prince'. And I'm not totally positive at the moment." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I really don't know."

"Let's just give up," Marco suggested. "I mean, obviously the Yeerks are up to something, but we're just too blind to figure it out. Erik's no help, either. We don't know what's going on. I, personally, am I getting sick of it. This whole stupid war. All of it."

"Funny," Jake said in a serious, yet slightly exhausted tone. "If only we could. But we can't, and you know that."

"We could always try another stealth mission," Cassie said, grasping Jake's shoulder. He craned his neck and looked up at her with a faint smile.

"Yeah, but I don't know. We might not get another good chance like the one we got earlier. That was pure dumb luck."

((Maybe we should just go to the "Y" again,)) Tobias said. ((Cause some more ruckus and ruffle Visser Three's feathers. Tell him that the Andalite bandits are on his tail and won't stop until he leaves the place alone?))

"What are the chances Visser Three will just up and leave the place?" Rachel demanded. "We're probably better off being struck by lightning."

"Actually," Jake said, breaking Rachel's mood, "that's not exactly a terrible idea. We've never really made our cameo appearance. Visser Three just knew we were there. If we threaten him, then we'll have more of a chance to get him to move off the project."

"But he's already got the pamphlets in there and everything!" Rachel retorted angrily. "Even if we did manage to kick him out, there'd still be some people we lost."

"We'd be sacrificing just a few people for the greater good of others, Rachel," Cassie said calmly. "And even though I really don't like the idea...If it saves a lot of people..."

((Then it is settled?)) Ax asked curiously.

Jake sighed. "I guess it is. Tomorrow night, YMCA again. Battle royal."

"At least we'll get to fight," Rachel commented.

I nudged Marco in the side, then whispered, "You'd never think she was like this by just seeing her in school..."

He snickered, and when she cocked her head in our direction, stopped. "Yeah. It's always interesting. Remind me to tell you about the time she split in two."

I blinked in surprise. "Eh?"

"Just...ask later. It's a really good story."

"I'll uh...remind myself."

. . .

It was lunch the next day. Marco and I were sitting together outside near the football field, right beneath one of the big oak trees. No one ever came out this way, so we didn't have to worry about being caught talking about what we were.

"So wait, she was split in two by a morph?"

Marco nodded and took a bite of his sandwich. "Yeah. Starfish. Some kid chopped her in half and she demorphed. What was really bizarre, though, was the split that happened."

"What was it?" I asked curiously.

"Well, basically it was war monger Rachel and airhead blonde Rachel. Like...each side of her that kept the other in check. So neither had really good control. And also, the nice Rachel had all the planning genes, if you could call them that. Like, long term thinking. Mean Rachel could only think in short term. But she could fight, lemme tell you that."

"That's so creepy. Did anyone find out?"

"Well, nice Rachel almost spilled her guts to her dad. We intercepted, though. It was really, really close. Mean Rachel had gone there, and her dad almost saw both of them. Anyone who knows Rachel knows that two of them are more than enough, even when they're just two halves to a whole."

"She seems to be okay now," I said.

"She is, but that doesn't mean she always will be. She's had her fair share of little breakouts, lemme tell you. But she's always kept it together more or less. Well, except for when she went all heroine war princess on us and tried to save this kid from the crocodile tank at The Gardens."

"Wait, what?" I drank some of my soda.

"A long time ago, Rachel jumped into the crocodile tank to save this kid that fell in. She acquired the croc and morphed him to scare it off. But she ended up having some weird allergic reaction to it—"

"You can have allergic reactions to morphs?" I butted in.

"Well, yeah, I guess. She did, anyway. But what happened was that her body started freaking out and she'd morph when she didn't mean to. She nearly destroyed the whole top floor of her mom's house when she went elephant. And then she morphed bear with Chapman, but only somewhat, and ended up with these giant, hairy feet Chapman mistook as fashionable boots. In the end...Her body rejected the morph and it split from her body as a full-grown croc. It would have been really cool if it hadn't been so sick. That's when Cassie acquired Rachel."

"God, you people have been busy," I said, surprised. "That's a lot of stuff to happen to a bunch of teenagers."

"You're telling me," Marco muttered, taking a bite out of his apple. "I almost quit in the beginning. But then I found out about my mom and I just...couldn't. I wouldn't let her be taken in vain." He glared off into the distance. "I'm gonna get her back someday."

"I'll help you all I can," I said reassuringly. "Even if it means dying in the process."

Marco laughed some and looked at me, dropping his head to my shoulder. "I appreciate the first part, but if I can help it, you won't die. I just won't let it happen."

I wrapped one of my arms around his waist and smiled down at him. "I won't die. I'm too careful. Besides, if I ever get hurt, I can demorph."

"Or, if you get hurt at as a human, you could always morph."

I shrugged. "Meh, either way works."

. . .

I had headed straight home after practice because I needed to get some homework done before the mission. Lately I had been doing it in the evening, but that couldn't be the case today. I was in the living room, math notes in hand, as I tried to figure out just why the formula for figuring out the probability of someone's chance of pulling out five face cards in a deck of cards was helpful. Unless I wanted to bet on it or something, it would be totally useless.

Since I didn't get home until about four, Jenny was there, but she was in the kitchen watching TV. Mom and dad were still at work, and I didn't have a clue as to where Derrick was.

I finally gave up on my math homework a few minutes later because it was just annoying me. I had other homework to do, but I figured hey, why not do it Sunday?

I headed into the kitchen to get something to eat. Jenny was working on some of her homework (French stuff), but still managed to watch TV at the same time. I found it interesting she could multi-task so well. No one else in our family could.

I looked briefly at the TV before I opened the fridge. There was some news thing about the YMCA on it, which caught my attention.

"Turn that up," I told Jenny.

"…As we all know, the YMCA promotes family values and togetherness. Now joined with The Sharing, a local program that helps troubled teens, they plan to work together to help families. Today with us we have the owner of this local YMCA branch, Mr. Collins…"

"Oh God," I muttered.

"What?" Jenny asked.

"Nothing. It's nothing," I said. I was attempting to keep myself calm, but it wasn't exactly working out very well. I nearly dropped the soda can.

Jenny put down her pencil and looked at me. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I lied. I wandered over to the doorway and leaned against it. "Hey, if mom or dad asks, tell them I went to Randy's for the night. We've got an English test to study for. It's one of those stupid essay book tests."

She nodded. "Okay. I will."

"Thanks."

I headed upstairs and pretended to gather up some stuff. I didn't even hear the front door open. When I bounded down the stairs, I nearly ran into Derrick.

"Ow! Jeez, where's the fire?"

I looked up at him and nearly yelled. But I held it back and smiled some. "Oh hey. Sorry. You know how I rush down the stairs."

He brushed off his shirt and nodded some. "Yeah, I do. So where are you off to?"

"Just going out to the mall for a while. Spend the night at Randy's to study for my big English essay test coming up."

"You sure do have a lot of tests," Derrick commented. Was he getting suspicious?

"Well, it's near midterms. I've already had my science one and math one. Monday I have my English and Japanese."

"I really don't get how you can read that gibberish," he said. "Looks like a bunch of swirls and lines to me."

"Well, I like it." I muttered something in Japanese then, something along the lines of 'I know your secret'. But Derrick would have no idea what I said, and that pleased me.

"What the hell does that mean?" he asked.

I smiled. "Oh, nothing."

He raised a brow at me and then rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Guess what?"

"Huh?"

"I finally got a job!"

"Cool, cool. Where?" I was a bit apprehensive to ask that question, but I would have seemed weird not to.

"At the 'Y'. I'm one of those people in the front of the building."

"You mean the scanner dudes?"

"Yeah, one of them. Pay's okay."

I frowned. "You could do better, you know."

"It was either that, or be dad's little secretary. I'd choose the former."

"Well, I guess you're right." I needed some kind of escape. I was going over to Rachel's house, because we were traveling to the 'Y' together. She lived the closest. Jake was going with Marco, and Tobias, with Ax, were going with Cassie.

"Well, I gotta get to the kitchen. Hungrier than a grizzly bear." He laughed. I did too. Fake, of course, but that wasn't important.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

He nodded. "Have fun studying for your tests. And remember, don't stress about it, dude. They're just midterms. They're just to see if you're paying attention. Even if you don't do your homework or anything, you'll be fine."

I shrugged. "Yeah. I hope so. Anyway, I gotta go."

"Later. Study hard, bro."

And I jolted out the door, heading to Rachel's.


	17. The Final Battle

_**Author's Notes: Another big battle scene! And man, I had way too much fun writing this. I remember when I did, too, and how excited I was to post it. I still love writing and posting now like, 5 years later. This makes me all smiley and all that jazz. Guess what's what writers like though. Please review :D**_

* * *

Rachel answered the door. I guess she knew I was coming.

"Hey, come on in."

When I walked in, I noticed her two sisters sitting on the couch watching TV. Her mom was in the kitchen on her cell phone.

"I'm going out now, mom!" Rachel called from the main hallway.

"Have fun on your date, honey!" her mom said, instantly yelling at the voice on the other end of the phone line. I didn't know who it was, and I didn't really want to…

Wait, did she say date?

"D-Date?" I asked, surprised.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "My mom's stupid sometimes. She thinks any guy I know takes me on dates. It's kind of sad. Let's just go."

We wandered outside, into the twilight evening. Most of the houses had shut their windows and closed their blinds, so we were in the clear pretty much for morphing. She had a shed on the side of her house that was hidden by the fence, so we went in there and morphed.

But where two teenagers went in, two owls came out.

. . .

((Did I mention that this mission is absolutely nuts?)) Marco commented.

((Shut up, Marco,)) Rachel said.

We were flying on our way to the YMCA for the second time in the past few weeks. It was about ten, so it was dark, and our cover was perfect.

Cassie had morphed her owl morph as well. Tobias was himself, Ax was in his northern harrier morph, Marco in his osprey morph, and Jake as a peregrine falcon. Not always the best morphs for night (well, with three exceptions), but they still worked.

((Looks like they bolted up the windows,)) Jake observed.

Marco laughed. ((Aw, don't they just love us?))

((How are we supposed to get in, Prince Jake?)) Ax asked.

((Anyone see any other way in?)) Jake asked.

We were a good distance away from the building, but we were all coming from different directions, so the building was surrounded on all sides, and with our enhanced eyes, it was simple to scan the 'Y' for any sort of entrance.

((I can't see anything,)) I stated.

((Me either.)) Rachel.

((Unless we can go through walls, I think our only way of sneaking in is bug,)) Marco said.

((It would probably be best if we got in and out with minimal problems.)) That was Jake. ((So if we can find some kind of whole or something, we might be able to fit in as bugs.))

((Cockroaches can fit through almost any opening,)) Cassie said.

((But they're so blind it isn't even funny,)) Marco whined.

((Guys!)) Tobias broke our conversation. He was closest, since his eyes weren't that good at night. He'd also left earlier than we did. ((There's a car pulling up the 'Y' right now. I'm betting it's the janitor or something. We might be able to slip in with his help.))

((Good idea,)) Jake said. ((Are there any places nearby that we could demorph safely in?))

((Um…)) Tobias said unsurely, ((I think there's an alley just beside it that's dark.))

((Cassie? Harvey? Rachel? Any of you see any places? I'm trusting your eyes.)) Jake quickly added, ((Not that I don't trust yours, Tobias, it's just that it's night and all.))

((No offense taken,)) Tobias said.

((I see where Tobias is talking about,)) Rachel said. ((It's close to the YMCA, too. It's their parking garage.))

((Yeah,)) Cassie confirmed. ((The owl mind is telling me that it's really dark in there, even though it looks like day to me. And there's no one in it, either. We'd just have to demorph a little bit further in the back so we aren't seen if a car drives by.))

((What they said,)) I said.

((Then everyone,)) Jake's thought-speak was getting stronger in my head, ((meet in the parking garage and demorph. We'll wait until everyone's there to remorph. By that time, hopefully the janitor will be on his way to opening the door.))

We all arrived in the parking garage around the same time, with the exception of Tobias. He was already there, as were Cassie and Ax. Jake gave the command, and almost instantly we were all demorphing.

"So the plan is to go cockroach to get in, then find some way to get up to the offices and do basically what we did before. There's bound to be twice the Yeerk security, so I want everyone to be prepared."

"You make it sound like we're inexperienced," Rachel said, faking a tear. "It hurts me, Jake."

Usually Rachel didn't crack jokes, and that one was pretty funny. We all laughed, even Ax and his utterly creepy "Hah hah. Hah."

"Don't be taking my job," Marco said, snapping his fingers like one of those women on television. That made us laugh, too.

"Now that we've had our giggle fits for the day," Jake said, "we can get going. So let's morph."

And we did just that. Bit by bit, piece by piece, each one of us began turning into a cockroach.

Even though you want to close your eyes throughout the whole thing, you know you can't. It's...scary. Entrancing, yet sick at the same time.

But I was lucky enough to have turned away when I started my morph.

About a minute later, we had all finished. The cockroach felt right at home being in the dark, and with the feeling of other cockroaches around, it didn't much worry. It was curious as to why there was so much space around, but it didn't freak out or anything.

((The 'Y' is to the left,)) Tobias stated.

We all scurried across the cold cement to the left, and instantly the cockroach began to grow nervous. The bright light from above was showering down on us, and the other mind sharing my head was going insane.

It was telling me "GET OUT OF THE LIGHT!"

((Dear God, this brain is driving me nuts,)) I said, clearly annoyed.

((You get used to it after you use it a couple of times,)) Marco told me. ((It's nothing compared to being ants.))

I heard a collective shudder from everyone.

((Okay, not even going to ask on that one,)) I said.

Suddenly, there was a huge vibration nearby. My antennae were flailing wildly.

((It's the janitor!)) Jake said. ((Come on, follow the vibrations!))

We ended up inside the lobby of the YMCA, just like we'd planned. The only problem was that it was slightly dark. But the cockroach could handle that for me.

((Where's the elevator?)) Rachel asked.

((I believe it is directly in front of us,)) Ax said.

((We'll have to wait for the janitor to use it if we're gonna hitch a ride,)) Jake said.

((Won't he be a bit suspicious as to why there are seven cockroaches following him?)) Cassie asked.

((We can always try and sneak into the basket he carries around with him,)) Tobias suggested. ((The one with the rags and stuff.))

((Another good idea from Tobias,)) Jake said. If he had a mouth, I would assume he'd be smiling. ((Check three for the night.))

((The janitor is cleaning out the main office near the entranceway,)) Ax announced. ((Now would be the best time, I believe, for us to get into the basket.))

((Let's go,)) Jake said.

The basket was, indeed, full of rags and things of the like. I didn't have a very strong sense of smell, but the ammonia and bleach was still slightly prominent. We dove deep, as to make ourselves invisible. And in just a few seconds time, we were moving.

It took a while, too. He made so many pit stops, and had thrown so many more rags atop of us, that I was beginning to wonder how we were going to make our escape.

((The office is on the third floor, right?)) Jake asked, trying to confirm. ((I can't remember.))

((Nope. One floor up,)) Marco said.

((Well, we've gone up what, twice? So we're on the third floor. He should be on the fourth soon.))

((He's gotta be a Controller,)) Tobias said. ((Otherwise the Hork-Bajir that were running around up there would have spooked the living daylights out of him.))

((Must be,)) I said. ((If he isn't, then he's blind. But if he's blind, why would he clean?))

((Nobody takes longer than you, Harvey,)) Marco joked.

((We have a little over sixty minutes in this morph, Prince Jake,)) Ax said calmly.

((We should be fine with that.))

((We've moving upward again,)) Cassie announced. ((Or at least, I think we are.))

((So we're just going to rampage until Visser Three comes along?)) Rachel asked. She sounded almost anxious.

((That's the plan,)) Jake said. ((Then Ax here tells the jerk to stay away from the 'Y' or we'll do more damage.))

((He won't want to expose anything to the populace,)) Cassie said. ((So he'll eventually have to give in at some point.))

((Better sooner than later,)) Marco muttered. ((Because I feel terrible destroying the 'Y' like this.))

((Well, hopefully the visser wises up and we won't have to do this.)) Jake.

The janitor had moved off somewhere. The vibrations from his body had disappeared. We all crawled out cautiously, but for no real reason. The janitor wasn't nearby. Since we were on the fourth floor, there was nearly nowhere to demorph. Our little roach minds led us to the darkest place it could find, which luckily, just happened to be an empty storage space with lots of room.

We demorphed quickly and tried our best not to squish each other as we remorphed. I went leopard. Jake, tiger. Marco, gorilla. You know, the basic battle morphs. Tobias decided to stay away from Hork-Bajir this time and went polar bear. We were a nice collection of odd creatures, but at least this time we didn't have to worry about which Hork-Bajir was Tobias or not.

((Let's do it!)) Rachel said.

((Now we can go,)) Marco said to everyone but Rachel. It got a laugh.

((What?)) Rachel asked.

((Come on,)) Jake said, sounding slightly serious. ((Gotta kick some butt.))

We had Ax go out first to check and see if any Hork-Bajir were patrolling the halls. He told us that none were near, and the janitor was out of sight. So we decided to do a little searching of our own and wandered down the hall in pairs: Marco and I, Rachel and Tobias, Cassie and Jake, and Ax by himself. He was better equipped to defend himself if needed.

Marco and I went down one hallway while the others went down the others nearby. The floor was like a maze.

I silently crept along the ground, muscles partially tense. I was ready to lunge and kick some ass. But there were no Hork-Bajir patrolling.

Absolutely none.

((Is it just me, or is this a little weird?)) Marco asked.

((It's not just you,)) I said. ((Maybe the action's elsewhere?))

"RRRRRROOOOOOWWWWRRR!"

That answered my question. All of the tense feelings I had strengthen upon hearing that window-shattering roar. It was Jake, obviously. Enough to make you crap your pants if you're just a human. But the leopard prepared itself for a fight and I hadn't even realized it.

I heard a FWAPP! And then the sound of a body hitting the ground. That had to have been Ax.

((Hork-Bajir in our corridor!)) Cassie announced loudly.

((I encountered only one,)) Ax said. In a slightly smug tone, he added, ((But they have been taken care of.))

((There aren't any down our hallway,)) Rachel said. She sounded disappointed. ((None.))

((Well, there aren't any in ours, ei—))

WHAM!

Before I could finish my sentence, I heard the sound of something slamming against the wall. Craning my neck, I noticed Marco had punched a Hork-Bajir in the stomach, and the creature was lying against the wall. I think it passed out.

((Uh...I take that back.))

But before I even had a chance to marvel at what happened, two more Hork-Bajir came from around the corner just a few yards ahead of us.

((We should try and take this where there's more space!)) I said.

Marco nodded his gorilla head. ((Yeah, come on!))

We ran out into the area near the staircase. The racquetball courts were below us. This area wasn't all that big, and it was clear it wasn't fit for fighting.

((Down to the racquetball courts!)) Jake's voice boomed in our heads.

Needless to say, the door to the stairs was gone. Tobias hit it with one of his paws and it was gone. We bounded down the steps as they wobbled beneath our weight (how they managed to last without breaking I'll never know). Soon enough, we had emerged in the widespread area of the racquetball courts.

((Hmm, deja vu,)) Marco said.

((No time for jokes!)) Tobias said. ((Hork-Bajir!))

I couldn't even begin to count them. If you thought that six were a lot of Hork-Bajir (I did, at least), then you might have died seeing this many. They almost melted together like zebras in my leopard sight. It was really hard for me to tell one from another until they moved apart.

((How many freakin' Hork-Bajir are there?!)) Rachel exclaimed.

They were pouring out from the staircase and from the hallway down to the left.

FWAPP-FWAPP-FWAPP!

((I brought three down!)) Ax said.

I didn't even see his tail move. But the results were there. Three Hork-Bajir bodies were piled atop each other on the floor. He was posted near the hallway. Not so many were coming from that direction. Well, anymore at least.

I moved over there to help him. So did Marco. Any Hork-Bajir that managed to get by Ax had to deal with me and my buddy, Mr. Cement fists.

"Graflash Andalites!" one of the Hork-Bajir shouted angrily. I batted his face hard with my paw, claws extended. I had just enough luck to catch the soft skin of its occipital area, and it was down like a light.

Marco pounded his chest much like regular gorillas do when they're about ready to strike. I saw him head butt and ram a Hork-Bajir, sending it flying in the opposite direction it had intended to travel.

I bared my fangs at an approaching Hork-Bajir. When that didn't stop it, I let loose my battle cry.

"HRRRROOOOWWWWWW!!"

That certainly stopped him. With the brief moment it was stupefied, I tackled it. But that brought it back, and it dug a nice, deep gash in my left shoulder. I let out a pained cry, but hung on tight and bit down into its neck. I had no problem finding the jugular.

It fell to the ground and I did with it.

I crawled off of him and stumbled over to the side. The cut was really painful, but I could handle it. Adrenaline pumped through my system and I felt like I could take on anything.

I caught sight of Tobias standing on his hind legs and smacking a Hork-Bajir in the arm with his paw. When he pulled back, the arm wasn't there anymore.

((Think you can try and cut me?)) I heard him say. ((Yeah, right.))

((There are more coming from the stairs!)) Jake said.

((I've got them!)) Rachel stated. Surely enough, a grizzly bear appeared at the mouth of the staircase, and not one Hork-Bajir managed to get by her. It was fascinating.

But while I was enthralled in the battle the others were fighting, I didn't notice Marco knuckle-walk up beside me. He had a deep cut along the leathery skin of his chest.

((Daydreaming?)) he asked, sounding annoyed.

((Not intentionally,)) I responded.

((The Hork-Bajir flow from the hallway's stopped for the moment. Demorph and fix that gash. It looks horrible.))

I casually turned my head to the gash, glancing over it as best I could. It wasn't that bad. I could handle it.

((I'll be fine,)) I told him.

((Don't argue with me, Harvey,)) Marco said, suddenly serious. ((Don't be stubborn. Fix that cut.))

((You're not Jake,)) I retorted, a little bit ruder than I meant to be. ((You can't order me around.))

((Just because I'm not your freaking leader doesn't mean I can't care about you! Just demorph and fix the cut! It'll only take you a minute!)) It was strange...hearing Marco's voice, yet seeing it come from a gorilla's body.

((A minute that could be used to fight off the Hork-Bajir,)) I said.

((Whatever,)) he replied angrily. ((You know what? You do what you want. If you want to run around losing blood faster than a chicken with its head cut off, fine! You do that. I'm not going to stop you.))

((Good,)) I said viciously. ((Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to help Ax. If you haven't noticed, more Hork-Bajir are coming.))

Marco turned his head around and looked toward where I was staring. Surely enough, about five more Hork-Bajir were wandering in our direction, poised for a fight.

((A little help, please!)) Ax called out. ((I can't get them all by myself!))

I was angry. Angry at Marco for thinking I was a wimp and unable to hold myself. Angry that I was so stubborn. Angry that Derrick was infested. I was just angry about a lot of things.

So I took it out on the Hork-Bajir that thought it could hurt me.

"HRRRRROAAAAWWW!!"

I was pumped so full of adrenaline I don't think I had any blood actually left. Every fiber of my being went into smashing just the right bones, crushing just the right vital organ. I heard cries of pain and I relished in them. The Hork-Bajir fell like flies. One after another came toward me, only to be knocked aside.

...But I was weakening.

With every one-on-one battle I fought, I lost more and more blood. My eyes were getting fuzzy. My heart was beating terribly fast. I could barely stand. I stumbled when I tried to tackle another Hork-Bajir, and fell to the ground afterward.

((Harvey?)) Marco's voice. Sweet, sweet Marco's voice. ((Harvey?!))

((Yeah...Marco?)) I managed to respond.

((Demorph, NOW!))

Ah, demorph. To demorph, or not to demorph. What was the answer to this life-long question? I, myself, didn't know. All the thoughts were lifting from my head as I lied there. I heard sounds of creatures falling to the ground like myself, and the constant beating of my heart rang in my ears.

((HARVEY! DEMORPH! NOW! DAMNIT!))

((I'm really fine...)) I told him. ((Just...Dandy...))

But everything wasn't fine and dandy. I had lost so much blood that my brain was beginning to function weirdly. I was thinking strange thoughts. I don't really know if I was conscious or not. I think I was somewhere in between.

I saw a creature looming over me. Big, black creature. Marco. It had to be.

((...Harvey?))

And everything went black.


	18. Awakening to the End

_**Author's Notes: Last chapter in the story. I remember being real sad when I wrote this, because it was the end of something I'd worked really hard on. To date this is the second longest story I've written, only topped by a Sirius/James fic I wrote for Harry Potter. I'm really proud of this story, even though it has flaws. But I think part of why I like it is because it **_**does_ have them. It's not perfect, but I think it's great. I hope you do, too. Please leave me a review letting me know what you thought :)_**

* * *

"...Do you think he'll be all right?"

"He demorphed in time. Somehow. Didn't you say he passed out, Marco?"

"Yeah, he did. But while I was knocking Hork-Bajir away, I guess he managed to demorph."

"Weird."

A collection of voices. I had faint ideas of who they were.

"Not really, if you think about it, Cassie. Jake's done it. Rachel's done it. With those ants crawling all over her?"

"Tobias is right. I did it."

I shifted and groaned out a little. I hadn't opened my eyes yet, though.

"I think he's coming to." I identified that as Cassie speaking. "Hand me the washcloth."

I felt something warm resting on my forehead. Must have been the washcloth.

"Harvey?" I knew that was Marco. I turned my head in his direction and opened my eyes just a little. Yeah, it was him. "Are you okay?"

I tried to sit up, but my head was spinning. So I just put myself down again. "Y-Yeah. I think so."

I saw Marco reach forward and wrap his arms around me. I had strength, but just not a whole lot. I'd just woken up. But, I did manage to return the hug. I didn't care if any of the others saw. I was just happy I was here.

Then he whispered into my ear, "It's okay. They already know. They know everything."

"I suspected all along," Rachel said. She gave me one of her infamous grins.

When Marco pulled back, I felt myself waking up. I finally sat up, my arms falling into my lap.

"I think they all figured it out when I went ballistic on the Hork-Bajir," he said sheepishly.

"And screaming 'You did _not_ just kill Harvey, you son of a bitch,' helped too," Tobias offered. He was in his human morph.

We all laughed some.

"We care about you, but obviously Marco does just a little bit more." That was Cassie.

I didn't know where I was. It was kind of like a shack, and there was a computer, couch (I was sitting on it) and a television.

"We're in Ax's shack," Jake confirmed for me.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"He's off getting something to eat."

"It's dark out," I observed. No one said anything about how acute and smart I was (sarcastically, I mean) because of what I'd been through. I appreciated it.

Marco looked at his watch. "It's about one in the morning."

"How did I demorph?" I asked.

"None of us really know," Jake told me. "It's happened with us before. But Marco said you had a giant gash that you wouldn't demorph and heal."

"I was doing okay," I said in my defense. "I just got distracted."

"Well, next time listen to Marco. I can't lose a soldier."

I nodded. "Sorry, Jake."

"You hear that?" Marco said, mock serious. "You better listen to me next time."

"One of the only times that Marco is right," Rachel said. "The world is just wrong when Marco's right."

"Oh be quiet, Rachel," Marco said, rolling his eyes. "You're just mad because I killed more Hork-Bajir than you did."

She looked like she was about to say something, but she just shook her head, deciding against it.

I moved my legs and Marco took a seat beside me. Instead of him curling up to me, this time it was me curling up to him. It felt nice not having to worry about the others. I wondered if they knew about Jake and Tobias.

"Aw, where's a camera when you need one?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, and now you can't complain about women dumping you, Marco. You've got Harvey. Be happy." That was Rachel.

Marco suddenly started talking in one of those kiddy-like voices as he pulled me close to him. "I'm perfectly happy. I couldn't ask for anything more."

"Happy to hear that," I said with a light laugh. "And on a more serious note...What happened? How did I get back here?"

"That was beyond hard," Jake admitted. "Marco thought you died, and his thought-speak was roaring through our heads, so we thought you died, too. But when he realized you had demorphed, we knew you were still alive. DNA repair and all. You were just unconscious."

"Yeah, that was the easy part." Cassie. "The hard part was keeping the Hork-Bajir from seeing you. Marco managed to hide you in the bathroom nearby when the flow of Hork-Bajir stopped. Luckily you didn't demorph until about the time the last few arrived. One did see you, but he's...not gonna live to tell the tale."

"So I was in a bathroom, passed out?" I asked.

"Yeah." Now Tobias spoke. "We knew Visser Three was going to be coming, so there was no real easy way to get you out. We put our identities on the line getting you out of that building."

"How'd you get me out?"

Nobody said anything for a minute.

I pressed the question again. "How'd you guys get me out?"

"We threw you out a window," Marco said nervously.

"What! You threw me out a window?!"

"Well, if it's any consolation, it was really dark and no one noticed the gorilla catch you. After I demorphed and everyone else did, we managed to catch the night bus."

"But I was passed out."

Rachel chuckled. "We convinced the bus driver you got drunk."

An annoyed look grew on my face. "Oh thanks. Just wait until that info hits one of my family members."

"The bus driver didn't say anything. We told him we'd just got out of a party and someone slipped something in your drink. So it wasn't really your fault."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'."

"Thanks, you guys," I said softly. "I really appreciate it."

"You better not do something like that again," Jake said. "But...you're welcome."

"Yeah, you're welcome," Tobias said.

"We figured that you could just rest here tonight," Marco said.

"I think I can handle that. As long as I get the couch." I let one of my arms snake around Marco's waist.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" he asked.

"If he does, I'm going," Rachel said. "I gotta go anyways. Mom's probably not fooled by the pillows in my bed."

"I should go too," Cassie said.

Jake stretched his arms. "We all should. Well, except for Marco, if he's staying here. Are you?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Tell Ax that if you see him."

"Don't do anything with him around," Jake ordered. "Because I'm sure he wouldn't understand."

"It'd be stupid of us to think that Andalites know nothing of homosexuality," Cassie stated. "I mean...we can't be the only species with it."

"I wouldn't doubt it," Tobias agreed. "Ax can't be that dumb."

"Well, let's just get going," Rachel yawned. "I'm missing out on my beauty sleep."

"Have fun you two," Jake said.

"Don't do anything we wouldn't do," Rachel said with a snicker. "Because Ax will tell on you."

Marco raised a brow and then nuzzled the side of my head. "We won't."

I smiled softly. I really didn't know what to say. As Jake, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias made their way to the door, I gave Marco a kiss. It was short, but loving. I was appreciative. Even though I knew that my life would never be the same because of that day that happened just a month or so ago, I didn't know how I would be able to go back and live it when this whole thing was over. Would it ever be over?

One can only hope.

Will the Yeerks ever make a choice and leave Earth? Will the Andalites make a choice and get to Earth faster?

It's all about choices, isn't it?


End file.
